Bahrain Arrests Six Activists After Crackdown

Bahrain arrested six opposition activists Thursday as part of a crackdown on the Shiite pro-democracy movement that has sparked outrage in the Shiite world and criticism from Washington, an MP said.

Five hard-line Shiite activists and one Sunni were rounded up during the night, a parliamentarian from the Shiite opposition alliance told Agence France Presse.

"They were arrested in the night," Al-Wefaq deputy leader Khalil Marzouk told AFP.

Among those arrested was Hassan Mashaima, a leader of the hard-line Shiite Haq movement which is seeking to overthrow the Sunni monarchy that has ruled the Shiite-majority island state for 230 years.

Mashaima only returned to Manama from abroad on February 26 after terrorism charges against him were dropped as part of an earlier peace offering from the government to the opposition.

Human rights activist and Haq member Abduljalil al-Singace, who was released in February after six months in jail, was also detained in the overnight round-up, Marzouk said.

The arrests come a day after three protesters were killed when security forces firing tear gas and shotguns cleared out a month-old pro-democracy sit-in at Manama's Pearl Square, according to the opposition.