At least 32 people were injured, including four children, in an Iranian drone strike on Bahrain overnight, the largest casualty toll sustained by a Gulf nation since Iran began its attacks in retaliation for the offensive launched by the United States and Israel. Condemning it as a “heinous” attack targeting the Sitra area of the kingdom, the Bahrain Ministry of Health said that among those hurt, all Bahraini citizens, four were seriously injured including a 17-year-old girl who sustained severe head and eye injuries and two children aged 7 and 8 who suffered serious injuries to their lower limbs. The youngest victim was two months old. The Interior Ministry said a number of homes in the area had also been damaged in the attack which, in a post on X, it called “blatant Iranian aggression.” The attack was targeting the Bapco Oil Refinery in Sitra, an island just southeast of the capital, Manama, with images circulating online showing a blaze and columns of thick black smoke billowing from the facility. State-owned Bapco Energies declared a force majeure situation following the strike, rele
