Security forces on Thursday fired toxic tear gas canisters at a group of anti-regime demonstrators and raided more than two dozen homes in the village of Sitra, south of the capital.

Similar clashes also broke out between regime forces and Bahraini protesters in the northwestern village of Saar.

The fresh wave of unrest erupted a day after a funeral procession was held for Hussein Abdullah Abdulkarim, an anti-regime activist who lost his life in an explosion near his house in Saar. His family said the Al Khalifa regime had been behind his death.

Activists say the 35-year-old activist had been arrested on several occasions for taking part in anti-regime protests.

Bahrain uprising began in mid-February 2011, when the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the former dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive demonstrations.

The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses who had treated injured revolutionaries.