The attack was an assassination attempt, Osama al-Tamimi, a Sunni Muslim, said in a telephone interview today. It was linked to his call at a Parliament session last week for the departure of Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, premier for more than four decades, he said.
“This was a message to anyone trying to touch on this subject,” al-Tamimi said. No one was hurt in the attack on al- Tamimi’s gym in Sanad, south of Manama, which occurred at about 3:30 a.m. yesterday, he said.
A building in the central governorate was attacked with gunshots and an investigation is under way to identify the suspects, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said in a statement late yesterday.
Al-Tamimi, who ran as an independent in elections last year, is a rare, vocal Sunni critic of the Sunni monarchy. His call for a change of government, an elected cabinet and a parliament with wider powers echoes that of the mostly Shiite opposition.
Bahrain was rocked by one month of demonstrations last year, led by the Shiite majority demanding equal rights and representation. Small demonstrations still take place regularly in Shiite neighborhoods, sometimes spilling into commercial areas of Manama.
