23 March 2011 / REUTERS, MANAMA
A Bahraini woman has died after suffering gunshot wounds to the head and disappearing the day security forces launched a crackdown against protesters, the main Shiite Muslim opposition group Wefaq said on Tuesday. Wefaq said the funeral of Bahiya al-Aradi would be held later on Tuesday.
Wefaq said the exact circumstances of how she came to be shot were not clear, but she had apparently been driving her car in the west of the capital Manama. Officials were not immediately available for comment. Aradi’s death brings to seven the number of Bahraini civilians confirmed to have been killed since last Wednesday’s crackdown. Four police were also killed last week and local newspapers say two foreign workers, an Indian and a Bangladeshi, also died as sectarian clashes spread in recent weeks. That brings to 20 the total number of deaths since the start of protests more than a month ago. Bahrain forces ended on Wednesday an uprising by mostly Shiite protestors that had prompted the king to impose martial law and call in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbors.
