Detained Bahrain Protester Dies

A Bahraini protester detained following clashes with police in a Shiite village has died in hospital, police said on Thursday, as the opposition accused security forces of running him over.

An Interior Ministry statement posted on Twitter said that police arrested the man in the Gulf kingdom's central governorate on Tuesday "over acts of vandalism in the area of Sitra".

"He died in hospital and the public prosecution has been notified," the statement said.

Opposition leading figure Matar Matar told AFP that Mohammed Yaaqub, 18, was chased by police vehicles and that his body "was stuck between two (police) cars that were following him".

"Instead of receiving the necessary medical treatment, the police took him to the yard opposite Sitra police station where he was tortured," said Matar, a former MP.

The interior ministry said on Wednesday that 41 officers were injured in "orchestrated attacks on police" on Tuesday amid rising tensions almost a year after the eruption of Shiite-led democracy protests that were crushed last March.

The opposition said several protesters were wounded in clashes with police in at least four Shiite villages on Wednesday.

Last year's crackdown led to the deaths of 35 people, including five security personnel and five detainees who were tortured to death, a commission appointed by King Hamad to investigate the unrest found.

Bahrain's Shiite majority complains of marginalization in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.