Bahrain declares martial law, violence escalates

Bahrains king declared martial law on Tuesday as his government struggled to quell an uprising by the islands Shiite Muslim majority that has drawn in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbour Saudi Arabia.

The three-month state of emergency will hand wholesale power to Bahrains security forces, which are dominated by the countrys Sunni Muslim elite, stoking sectarian tensions in one of the Gulfs most politically volatile nations.

Disturbances continued to shake the kingdom through the day. A hospital source said two men, one Bahraini and the other Bangladeshi, were killed in clashes in the Shiite area of Sitra and more than 200 people were wounded in various incidents.

The United States, a close ally of both Bahrain and Saudi, said it was concerned about reports of growing sectarianism in the country, which is home to the US Navys Fifth Fleet, and called for political dialogue to resolve the crisis.

On Monday, more than 1,000 Saudi troops rolled into the kingdom in a long convoy of armoured vehicles at the request of Bahrains Sunni rulers, flashing victory signs as they crossed the causeway that connects the two oil producers. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have said they would also send police.

Iran, which sits across the Gulf from Bahrain, sharply criticised the decision to send in Saudi troops.

"The presence of foreign forces and interference in Bahrains internal affairs is unacceptable and will further complicate the issue,&" Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly news conference in Tehran.

Gaddafi forces seize key town, G-8 stalls on no-fly
Muammar Gaddafis forces seized a strategic town in eastern Libya on Tuesday, opening the way to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi while world powers failed to agree to push for a no-fly zone.

The small town of Ajdabiyah was all that stood between the relentless eastward advance of Libyan government troops and the second city of Benghazi and lies on a road junction from where Gaddafis forces could attempt to encircle the rebel stronghold.

Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight countries meeting in Paris could not agree to press the United Nations Security Council to back a no-fly zone to protect Libyan cities from aerial bombing.

Instead, the G-8 said Libyans have a right to democracy and warned Gaddafi he faced "dire consequences&" if he ignored his peoples rights.