Bomb attack kills Bahraini policeman: interior ministry

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - A home-made bomb killed one Bahraini policeman and injured another on Thursday evening in Akr, south of the capital Manama, the Gulf Arab kingdom's interior ministry said on Friday.

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been volatile since its Shi'ite majority began protests last year and were stopped by Sunni Muslim rulers, using martial law and help from Gulf neighbors.

The ministry described the attack as a "terrorist" bombing. Government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Bahraini police have been the target of such bombings several times in the past year. The last such attack took place May, when four policemen were wounded.

Shi'ites complain of discrimination in the electoral system, jobs, housing, education and by government departments, including the police and army. They say government assertions that it is addressing those concerns have produced no action.

A commission of international legal experts reported in November that torture had been systematically used on protesters to punish and extract hundreds of confessions. Among its many recommendations were reviewing activists' jail sentences.

Bahraini authorities accuse regional Shi'ite power Iran of encouraging the unrest and have vowed a tough response to violent protests as talks with the opposition have stalled.

(Reporting by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Louise Ireland)