Bahrain activists held in swoops

Security forces had full control of parts of central Manama, a day after over-running a protesters’ camp and clashing with Shiites elsewhere in the country.

At least five people were killed – two policemen and three protesters – in the assault on the encampment in Pearl Square, according to opposition groups and the government.

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights said those taken into custody in the pre-dawn raids include Hassan Mushaima and Abdul Jalil al-Sangaece – who were among 25 Shiite activists on trial on charges of trying to overthrow the nation’s Sunni rulers.

The case was dropped in an attempt to calm tensions after political unrest began last month, but the latest sweeps suggested authorities had abandoned efforts at dialogue and were trying to silence opposition leaders.

Bahrain has imposed a three-month emergency rule that gives the armed forces wide powers to fight the pro-democracy uprising that began in mid-February.

Increasingly the struggle appears to be framed along sectarian lines: the Sunni monarchy and its backers using everything at their disposal to retain power, and Shiites hoping their overwhelming population advantage will be their most potent weapon to disrupt the country and bring the leadership to its knees.

Sunni authorities in the region also see Bahrain as an important stand against possible expansion of influence by the Shiite power Iran – which recalled its ambassador to Manama after protesting against the arrival of a Saudi-led force to help Bahrain’s monarchy.

The Youth Society group said the others detained included Shiite activists Abdul Wahad Hussein and Hassan Hadad and Sunni liberal leader Ibrahim Sharif, who had joined Bahrain’s majority Shiites to demand the Sunni monarchy loosen its grip on power.

“I saw men in black pointing a machine gun at my husband saying just one thing: ‘We are from the state security,”’ said Sahrif’s wife Farida Guhlam.

About 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are in Bahrain as part of a Gulf task force to help the Sunni rulers. The move, however, has brought sharp criticism from close ally Washington. United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the introduction of Gulf forces was “the wrong track.”

It was a rare hint of agreement with Iran, which has called the Saudi-led reinforcements in Bahrain “unacceptable.” Iran’s state-run Press TV reported that the country’s ambassador, Mahdi Aghajafari, was called back to Tehran.

Meanwhile the first of two Government charter flights which were expected to fly British citizens out of Bahrain landed yesterday without any passengers on board after nobody as ked to take a seat on the service.

The Foreign Office said the flight left the stricken Gulf state at 2pm local time before touching down in nearby Dubai.

The flight had been offered by the Government at a price of £260 per seat to help people wishing to leave the country who could not get places on commercial flights.

But the expected rush for places did not materialise with the majority of people departing on commercial flights.