[An Nahar] Bahrainis wielding knives and sticks attacked residents of the kingdom's Shiite villages overnight beating them in retaliation for a kaboom against coppers, witnesses and the opposition said Wednesday.The assailants, who according to witnesses came from Sunni neighborhoods, were responding to messages posted online to avenge the kaboom that injured seven coppers in a Shiite village on Monday.
"I saw hundreds of men carrying knives, sticks and other sharp objects," on the outskirts of several Shiite villages, said one witness who identified himself only as Hussein.
"They were stopping cars and asking passengers where they lived in order to determine what sect they belonged to," he told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone, referring to the Sunni and Shiite communities in Bahrain.
Al-Wefaq, the largest Iranian catspaw, said the attackers were in civilians clothes and "beat up" residents of Shiite villages.
A statement by the group accused security forces of failing to stop the attacks.
"The security forces did not carry out their duty, they did not disperse the (assailants) or prevent them from attacking citizens," the statement said, adding that authorities must "deal with these militias."
But Bahrain's interior ministry said police "prevented" a group of unknown assailants from entering al-Nuweidrat village, a Shiite community on the outskirts of the capital Manama.
In a statement released late Tuesday, the ministry said assailants "attacked 24-hour shops and destroyed two cars," after holding an "illegal gathering."