Two children wounded planting bomb near site where Emirati officer was killed

Two children, aged 10 and 11, were wounded while planting a roadside bomb in the same village in Bahrain where a blast killed Emirati police officer First Lieutenant Tariq Al Shehi on Monday.

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Two children, aged 10 and 11, were wounded while planting a roadside bomb in a Shiite village in Bahrain where a blast killed Emirati police officer First Lieutenant Tariq Al Shehi and two other policemen this week, Bahrain authorities said Thursday.

“A group of terrorists exploited these children by asking them to plant a home-made bomb” in Daih, state news agency BNA quoted a police official as saying.

He said one child was “seriously” wounded when the device exploded.

Police photos showed one child’s fingers mangled by the blast and both boys’ faces and bodies peppered with shrapnel.

Police said they have launched an investigation aimed at identifying those who incited the pair to plant the device.

Monday’s explosion in Daih that killed three policemen was the bloodiest attack on security forces since Shiite-led protests were suppressed by secutiry forces in February 2011. Lt Al Shehi, the Emirati policeman killed on Monday, was part of a joint Arabian Gulf force deployed in the kingdom to help maintain security.

Bahrain’s public security chief, Major General Tariq Al Hassan, said four more suspects in Monday’s blast have been detained, raising to 29 the number of arrests linked to the attack.

* Agence France-Presse