Growing violence alarms Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain – Bahrain’s king urged lawmakers Sunday to move ahead with proposed harsher measures against escalating attacks by Shiite-led opposition factions, including banning protest gatherings in the capital, after top government officials joined an emergency parliament session to discuss the Gulf nation’s nearly 30 months of unrest.

It was unclear what new steps could emerge more than two years after Bahrain lifted temporary martial law-style rule. But the endorsement for speedy action by the king virtually clears the way for tougher codes that also could include freezing bank accounts and stripping citizenship over links to violence.

The gathering also underscored the growing alarm in Bahrain that the Arab Spring-inspired uprising by the kingdom’s majority Shiites could be drifting into an even more violent stage. A spate of recent bomb attacks, including a blast Saturday, has wounded several policemen and suggests that militant groups are operating with greater autonomy.

Bahrain’s main Shiite political blocs have denounced the attacks, but also complain about widespread injuries among protesters from security forces using firing birdshot and tear gas.

More than 60 people have died in Bahrain’s upheaval as Shiites press for a greater political voice in the strategic Sunni-ruled kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. Activists and Shiite leaders place the death toll above 100.