MANAMA — Bahraini security forces have shot dead a teenager as a group of protesters attacked police with petrol bombs near the capital Manama, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. A police unit stationed in a street in Muharaq city “came under a terrorist attack with a large number of petrol bombs,” late on Friday, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official BNA news agency. It said security forces opened fire in defense, wounding one of the assailants who was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries. The dead youth was identified as 16-year-old Hussam Al-Haddad, and the government said he had been among protesters throwing petrol bombs at police. “Terrorists launched petrol bombs at close range, forcing the police to take the necessary actions to defend themselves and innocent bystanders from the potentially lethal attack,” the government Information Affairs Authority said in an emailed statement in English. “Despite warning shots by the police the attack continued; so security personnel dealt with the case according to its legal authority,” it added, citing the police chief of Muharraq district where the incident took place. The Interior Ministry says since June 2011 protesters have injured more than 700 police officers in clashes and that the police, who do not use live fire, are practicing restraint. — Agencies
