UN warning

THE UN has warned of “shocking and illegal” abuses in Bahrain where the US-backed Sunni Muslim rulers are waging a bloody crackdown on Shi’ite-led protesters.

The violence in the strategic Gulf kingdom has alarmed the US and sparked furious condemnation from Iran, Shi’ite leaders in Iraq and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Dissidents were rounded up at gunpoint in midnight raids and armed police stood outside Manama’s main hospital, amid reports authorities were beating doctors and denying treatment to the wounded.