Thousands of partisans of Bahrain's opposition demonstrated near Manama on Friday to protest against the alleged torture of jailed regime opponents, witnesses said. Gathered around the Shiite village of Daih, men and women waved Bahrain's national flag and held up signs that read: "Manama, capital of torture," the witnesses said. "Torture is a practice rooted in the security agencies," in Bahrain, the main Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq said in a statement.

Bahraini security forces have arrested four people suspected of attacking a police checkpoint with petrol bombs south of Manama at the weekend, the interior ministry said. "Four of the terrorists who attacked police checkpoint on Sunday evening with petrol bombs have been arrested," the ministry said late Monday. It said the attack took place in the district of Jari al-Sheikh, south of the capital, adding the identity of others suspected of being involved was being probed.

A homemade bomb exploded Sunday near Manama after police rounded up 22 people suspected of attacking security forces and blocking roads during protests, including in the lead-up to its Formula One race this month, police said. "An explosion targeting a police patrol carrying out its duties ... near (the Shiite village of) Dia was carried out using a homemade bomb on Sunday morning," said a police statement on the official BNA news agency.

Authorities in Bahrain, which has been rocked by Shiite-led protests for two years, have voiced "dismay" over an assessment by the US State Department of the rights situation in the kingdom. "The report includes texts which are totally far from the truth, adopting a manner that fuels terror and terrorists targeting Bahrain's national security," state news agency BNA late on Wednesday quoted government spokeswoman Samira Rajab as saying.