One killed in Bahrain explosion

A teenager was killed late on Tuesday in Bahrain when a bomb he was holding exploded in his hands while he was trying to carry out an attack, police said.        

State news agency BNA quoted police as saying that the 17-year-old youth had been wanted by security forces for "criminal offenses". A firearm and ammunition was also found near the body in the village of Bani Jamra, west of the capital Manama, BNA said without giving any details.               

Witnesses said one worker staying at a nearby warehouse was injured by the blast.                                  
The Interior Ministry had earlier said that the police operations room received a call from a person reporting the blast and were told one person was dead at the scene.              

"Police deployed to the area and dealt with a suspicious object," the ministry said on its Twitter account without elaborating.                     

The majority Shi'ite country, ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa family, has been buffeted by political turmoil since 2011 when mostly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets, calling for political reforms and more say in government.                   

The Bahraini government largely put down the uprising with help from Gulf Arab neighbors but small-scale clashes continue and bomb attacks have been increasing since mid-2012.                     
In the most recent attacks, five security officers were injured in an explosion in August in the village of Dair, north of Manama. In July, one policeman was killed when a homemade bomb exploded in the town of Sitra, near Manama.                   

Earlier in the day, a Bahraini court sentenced six people to 10 years in jail each after it found them guilty of a fire bomb attack on a police patrol in the village of Jadhafs, near Manama, which injuring two officers and setting their vehicle on fire.                        

State news agency BNA said the court had exercised leniency in passing the sentences, taking into consideration that five of the suspects were under 18 years of age when the attack took place. It gave no date for the attack. 


REUTERS