Bomb Blast In Bahraini Shi’ite Village Wounds Three Policemen

A bomb blast in a Shi’ite Muslim village in Bahrain late on Friday injured three policemen, the interior ministry said, in a further sign of anti-government sentiment since the opposition boycotted elections last month.

A 2011 uprising by mainly majority Shi’ites demanding more democracy in the Sunni Muslim-ruled Gulf Arab kingdom, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based as a bulwark against Iran, was crushed but sporadic unrest has continued, including bomb attacks.

Friday’s bomb explosion occurred in Bani Jamra, a Shi’ite village northwest of the capital Manama and was described by the interior ministry as a “terrorist blast” in a statement posted on its Twitter account.

The statement said authorities were taking “necessary steps”, without giving further details.

Earlier this month, a Bahraini citizen was killed and an expatriate resident wounded by a bombing in a village southwest of Manama. Bahrain’s largest Shi’ite opposition group, Al Wefaq, condemned that attack.

The Bahraini government has accused Iran of instigating the Shi’ite unrest in the small island country. The Islamic Republic denies this.