London finds Bahraini violence 'troubling'

LONDON, April 22 (UPI) -- Reports of alleged human rights abuses in Bahrain are "extremely troubling," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

The group Physicians for Human Rights said it had forensic evidence that Bahraini security forces attacked medical staff and patients with birdshot, rubber bullets and "unidentified chemical agents."

"Physicians have an ethical responsibility to care for and treat all people and must be afforded the right to perform these duties," Hans Hogrefe, Washington director of Physicians for Human Rights, said in a statement.

The ruling Sunni minority in Bahrain is under scrutiny for its reaction to a Shiite uprising. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay last month said she was deeply alarmed by the escalation of violence in the country, describing the March 16 seizure by security forces of a hospital as "shocking and illegal conduct."

Hague said he was increasingly concerned by the reports of violence in Bahrain.

"The arrests of opposition figures, the reports of deaths in custody, allegations of torture and the denial of medical treatment, are extremely troubling," he said in a statement. "I call on the government to investigate them fully and transparently."