Policeman dies in 'terrorist bombing' in Bahrain

A Bahraini policeman hurt in a roadside bombing during clashes with demonstrators overnight has died from his injuries, the interior ministry said on Friday. "Two policemen were wounded in an explosion of an homemade bomb" in Akar, a Shiite-populated village near the capital Manama, and "one of them died" as a result of the wounds he suffered, the ministry said on its Twitter feed. Police clashed with demonstrators who took to the streets of Shiite villages late on Thursday, answering a call by the February 14 Youth Revolution, an Internet-based group that wants to topple the Sunni Al-Khalifa monarchy. Brandishing the red and white flag of the kingdom, demonstrators marched until the early hours of Friday, chanting anti-regime slogans, including: "The people want to topple the regime" and "Down Hamad," the king of the Gulf state. Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Iran, has continued to witness sporadic demonstrations, mostly outside Manama, since it crushed Shiite-led protests in March last year. According to the International Federation for Human Rights, a total of 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence began on February 14, 2011.