Bahrain Mirror: Reports revealed that dozens of vehicles surrounded Bahrain's Sitra on Tuesday (July 28, 2015), while civilian forces raided the houses of Bahraini citizens and messed up their belongings, before arresting at least 10 people.

Civilian militias carried out a wide campaign of house raids and hindered the movement of citizens, following the Ministry of Interior's announcement of a bomb blast that targeted a bus with security officers aboard, leaving two policemen dead and others injured.

A number of news reports stated that security forces beat a woman as she tried to prevent them from arresting her brother.

For its part, Bahrain's main opposition group Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society said that what is happening in Sitra, southeast of the Bahraini Capital Manama, is considered an organized collective punishment, as security forces are making arrests, raiding the homes of citizens, and intimidating them as well as deploying security checkpoints across the island.

Al-Wefaq condemned these acts and considered them an organized collective punishment, stressing that these moves "raise serious concerns and should be brought to a halt immediately since they represent an intimidation and violation of basic and fundamental human rights," and adding that "things cannot be dealt with in this manner."

The society stressed that it stands in solidarity with the residents of Sitra, whose villages and towns are being subjected to various unjustified abuses.

The Arabic Issue