“The child Hussein al-Jaziri was martyred after he was wounded by shotgun fire in Dia,” Bahrain’s major opposition group, al-Wefaq, announced on Thursday.
The Bahraini Interior Ministry also said that “a wounded person who was brought to Salmaniya hospital was pronounced dead and the public prosecution was informed of the incident.” It did not give further information.
Bahrain’s opposition groups have called for nationwide protest rallies and strikes on Thursday and Friday to mark the anniversary of the popular uprising against the Manama regime.
Reports say shops have remained closed across Bahrain since Wednesday, ahead of the uprising anniversary demonstrations.
However, Bahraini officials say the planned rallies aimed at putting pressure on the regime-initiated ‘national dialogue,’ which started on February 10 in a bid to end two years of protests.
Bahrainis have been staging demonstrations since mid-February 2011, demanding political reform and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its crackdown on popular protests.
Bahrainis say they will continue holding demonstrations until their demands for the establishment of a democratically-elected government and an end to rights violations are met.