Saudi-backed Bahraini troops have fired teargas canisters on mourners attending the funeral procession of an anti-regime protester in Sitra, south of the capital Manama. 

 

Witnesses said hundreds of Bahrainis took to the streets of Sitra on Friday to mourn the death of 19-year-old Muhammad Yaqoob, who was killed by regime forces on Wednesday, Press TV reported. 

 

According to the opposition group al-Wefaq, Yaqoob was chased and run down by a police car. 

 

But despite the presence of photographic evidence of cuts and bruises on his body, Bahraini Ministry of Interior claims Yaqoob suffered from sickle cell anemia and died of what it claimed to be "natural causes." 

 

Saudi-backed Bahraini troops killed at least four anti-government protesters on Wednesday and a day before. Funerals held for those killed by the regime forces usually turn into mass protests against the country's rulers. 

 

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

 

On March 14, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.

 

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

 

Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

 

A report published by an independent committee in November, 2011 found that the ruling Al Khalifa regime had used excessive force against the protesters and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and demonstrators. 

 

(Source: Press TV)