Bahrain imposes state of emergency
Source: Agencies |
March 16, 2011, Wednesday
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BAHRAIN'S king imposed a three-month state of emergency yesterday and gave the country's military chief wide authority to battle a pro-democracy uprising that has threatened the Sunni monarchy and drawn in forces from around the Gulf.
The martial law-style order? read on state TV? comes a day after more than 1,000 Saudi-led troops arrived to help prop up the US-backed regime in the first major cross-border action against the revolts erupting across the Arab world.
On Tuesday, clashes broke out across the tiny island nation, with a doctor reporting that hundreds of protesters were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs and that one died from a bullet to the head. One of the Saudi soldiers was also shot and killed by a protester, said a security official in Saudi Arabia.
Further underlining the regional implications of the unrest in Bahrain, Shiite power Iran denounced the intervention of foreign troops as "unacceptable" and predicted it would complicate the kingdom's political crisis.
Iran holds no deep political ties to Bahrain's Shiite groups, but some Iranian hard-liners have hailed their efforts over the years for greater rights for their community, which represents a majority of the nation's population. In the month of protests, the Shiite-led opposition is also pressing for political freedoms.
The United States bases its Navy's 5th Fleet in the country in part to try to counter Iran's military reach.
Other Gulf leaders have urged Bahrain's king not to give ground, fearing that gains by Bahrain's Shiite Muslims could offer a window for Iran to expand its influence on the Arab side of the Gulf. There are also worries that concessions could embolden more protests against their own regimes, which have already confronted pro-reform cries in Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday's worst confrontations took place on the Bahraini island of Sitra.
A 24-year-old protester, Ahmed Farhan, was shot in the head and killed, said Dr. Ibrahim Youssef, a member of the medical team at the Sitra Health Center. Youssef said hundreds of others were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs.
The emergency law statement said the head of Bahrain's armed forces has ordered authorities "to take necessary steps to restore national security."
Senior opposition leader Abdul Jalil Khalil said the monarchy's steps indicated it has decided to "give a military solution to a political problem."
A security official in Saudi Arabia said a Saudi sergeant was shot and killed by a protester in Bahrain's capital, Manama. No other details were immediately given on the death of the soldier, identified as Sgt. Ahmed al-Raddadi.
The martial law-style order? read on state TV? comes a day after more than 1,000 Saudi-led troops arrived to help prop up the US-backed regime in the first major cross-border action against the revolts erupting across the Arab world.
On Tuesday, clashes broke out across the tiny island nation, with a doctor reporting that hundreds of protesters were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs and that one died from a bullet to the head. One of the Saudi soldiers was also shot and killed by a protester, said a security official in Saudi Arabia.
Further underlining the regional implications of the unrest in Bahrain, Shiite power Iran denounced the intervention of foreign troops as "unacceptable" and predicted it would complicate the kingdom's political crisis.
Iran holds no deep political ties to Bahrain's Shiite groups, but some Iranian hard-liners have hailed their efforts over the years for greater rights for their community, which represents a majority of the nation's population. In the month of protests, the Shiite-led opposition is also pressing for political freedoms.
The United States bases its Navy's 5th Fleet in the country in part to try to counter Iran's military reach.
Other Gulf leaders have urged Bahrain's king not to give ground, fearing that gains by Bahrain's Shiite Muslims could offer a window for Iran to expand its influence on the Arab side of the Gulf. There are also worries that concessions could embolden more protests against their own regimes, which have already confronted pro-reform cries in Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Tuesday's worst confrontations took place on the Bahraini island of Sitra.
A 24-year-old protester, Ahmed Farhan, was shot in the head and killed, said Dr. Ibrahim Youssef, a member of the medical team at the Sitra Health Center. Youssef said hundreds of others were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs.
The emergency law statement said the head of Bahrain's armed forces has ordered authorities "to take necessary steps to restore national security."
Senior opposition leader Abdul Jalil Khalil said the monarchy's steps indicated it has decided to "give a military solution to a political problem."
A security official in Saudi Arabia said a Saudi sergeant was shot and killed by a protester in Bahrain's capital, Manama. No other details were immediately given on the death of the soldier, identified as Sgt. Ahmed al-Raddadi.
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