The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday confirmed a spate of well-coordinated attacks on the public security officials across Bahrain which left 41 officers injured with three sustained critical injuries including one with severe burns.
The Informational Affairs Authority (IAA) on Wednesday in a statement said that an official at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) confirmed that Public Security forces have been facing extensive violent attacks across the Kingdom since the start of January.
“By 10:00 PM there were reports of at least 41 significant injuries among police, with two of them requiring critical care at the Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) Hospital, including one with severe burns,” it said.
“Police were met by masked and armed men and women, as well as children in some cases. The worst clashes were centered in Duraz, Sanabis, Dair and Al-Ekr, with attackers hurling metal rods, rocks, bottles and petrol bombs directly at the riot police. The nature of the attacks reflected a serious escalation in the violent tactics of groups and individuals supporting the political opposition,” the statement added.
Tuesday’s attacks, the statement said, on police were in response to a sermon delivered by a Shia’a cleric Ayatollah Isa Qassim.
“The cleric is often identified as the spiritual head of the Al Wefaq National Islamic Society which has been behind much of the opposition to the Bahrain government and has thus far refused to engage in any of the offers made by the government to resolve the crises and usher in broader reforms.”
Qassim, who studied in Qom (Iran), preaches in a mosque in Duraz, one of the hardest hit areas in yesterday’s violence. “During last Friday’s prayers he called for his followers to crush police who he described the low life foreigners that walk in our streets,” the IAA in a statement confirmed.