Firebomb victim tells of horror raid
Published: 4 January 2007
MANAMA: A badly burnt Bahrain policeman yesterday relived the horrors of an attack that has left him scarred for life.
The Guards Directorate employee, identified only as GS, suffered burns in a Molotov-cocktail attack on a minibus carrying him and his colleagues in Duraz on Saturday.
“As I got into the bus, my son’s smile was stamped on my memory and I reminded myself that I needed to buy two cans of milk for my (six-month-old) daughter,” GS told our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej from his bed in Salmaniya Medical Complex.
Firebomb victim tells of horror raid
Published: 4 January 2007
MANAMA: A badly burnt Bahrain policeman yesterday relived the horrors of an attack that has left him scarred for life.
The Guards Directorate employee, identified only as GS, suffered burns in a Molotov-cocktail attack on a minibus carrying him and his colleagues in Duraz on Saturday.
“As I got into the bus, my son’s smile was stamped on my memory and I reminded myself that I needed to buy two cans of milk for my (six-month-old) daughter,” GS told our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej from his bed in Salmaniya Medical Complex.
He was seen off at the door by his four-year-old son after dinner on the first day of Eid Al Adha.
Around 10pm, GS reached Budaiya Avenue as the bus dropped off colleagues one at a time at their worksites along the way. They are assigned to guard important buildings and historical sites.
“This week, it was my turn for the late-night shift,” GS recalled.
The bus stopped next at Umm Al Josoor historical site and “just before another policeman was about to get off the bus, we heard a loud explosion”.
“A Molotov cocktail shattered the minibus window and hit me in the head,” GS said. “The glass bottle broke and the flaming liquid splashed my head and face and the upper half of my body.”
GS rushed out of the bus as his head and upper torso were on fire. “I could only think of removing my flaming jacket,” he said.
His colleagues rushed to his rescue as the blaze spread to his arms.
“By the time the fire was put out, my head was bleeding profusely. It was agonising,” he said.
As he was rushed to hospital, GS had only one request – “to call my wife”. He called home on a colleague’s phone and “suppressing my pain, I told my wife that I would be late because I was in a small accident”.
“I remembered my family who are my life.”
GS is clueless about the motive for the attack. This, he said, was the first time he had been involved in an incident of this nature during his 10 years with the Guards Directorate.
But the injured policeman swore to continue to defend Bahrain. “I will never waver in my duty, even if it costs my life,” he said.
GS is confident that the culprits will be found. “The long arm of the law will get them,” he said.
© Gulf Daily News
