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Crime scene police investigate the site where a police officer was killed in the village of Damistan. Photo: Reuters

One killed in Bahrain explosion, second ‘terrorist’ attack in two days

Blast near Manama kills Bahraini, wounds expatriate a day after a policeman was killed in a claimed terrorist attack

A bomb blast on Tuesday killed one person in a Shiite village in western Bahrain, according to the authorities, who have faced  years of simmering unrest since crushing pro-democracy protests in 2011.

The explosion in Karzakan killed a Bahraini and slightly wounded an Asian national, the interior ministry said, describing it as a “terrorist” attack. 

Late on Monday a policeman was killed in a separate attack in a nearby Shiite village, the authorities said.

The attack occurred on Monday night in Damistan, southwest of Manama, while the officer was “doing his duty”, the intertior ministry said, adding that an investigation was under way.

Security forces set up a cordon around Damistan and tightened checks on the road leading to the village, residents said.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa blamed Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah for the attack.

“Another policeman falls martyr in Bahrain,” he wrote on Twitter, adding: “He was killed by a bomb made by Hezbollah, the terrorist party”.

It was the first deadly attack on the security forces since parliamentary elections in November, boycotted by the main Shiite opposition group which is calling for democratic reforms in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

The vote was the first in the Gulf state since Sunni authorities crushed pro-democracy protests led by the majority Shiites in 2011.

The main opposition Al-Wefaq movement quickly distanced itself from the Damistan attack, reaffirming its “rejection” of violence in a statement.

Attacks against the security forces have increased this year, with three policemen, including one from the UAE, killed in a bomb attack in a Shiite area on March 3.

Another policeman was killed in a bomb attack in a Shiite village in February during protests marking the third anniversary of the protest movement.

Small but strategic Bahrain, home base of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, remains deeply divided three years after the month-long protests.

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