Bahrain: Bomb blasts in capital Manama kill two foreign workers

GlobalPost

Bomb blasts in Bahrain's capital Manama have killed two foreign workers.

Explosions from five home-made bombs on Monday killed two street cleaners, described by the Bahraini interior ministry as Asian, Reuters reported. A third worker was seriously injured.

Bahrain's state-run news agency described the explosions as "terrorist acts," Reuters said.

One of the men died when he kicked a device on the ground, the BBC reported. Police urged residents of Bahrain not to touch strange objects.

More from GlobalPost: What's going on in Bahrain's Al-Eker village?

Reuters said that while police have been targeted by explosions several times this year, bombs targeting civilians are rare in Bahrain.

Bahrain last week banned all protests and public gatherings amid escalating violence between demonstrators and police.

The Gulf kingdom is the scene of ongoing unrest between the ruling Sunni Muslim royal family and the mostly Shiite-led opposition.

Anti-government unrest in Bahrain began in tandem with the Arab Spring, and has continued despite efforts by the country's leaders to downplay the crisis.

A strategically located Gulf nation, Bahrain hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

More from GlobalPost: Bahrain: Medics who aided pro-democracy protesters face jail time

Sign up for our daily newsletter

Sign up for The Top of the World, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.