Assailants have firebombed a police car in the Bahraini capital Manama, the government said Tuesday, the latest in a string of attacks on the security forces in the Gulf kingdom.

A group of “terrorists” attacked the vehicle with Molotov cocktails in the suburb of Hamad Town late Monday, completely burning it out, the interior ministry said on Twitter.

It did not say if there were any casualties.

Attacks on the security forces have intensified in the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom, mainly in Shiite-populated villages surrounding the capital.

On Friday, an explosion wounded a policeman in the village of Diah.

Another bomb killed three policemen in the same village last month, in the bloodiest attack on security forces since the start of a Shia-led uprising in February 2011.

Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, remains deeply divided three years after the quashed uprising, with persistent protests sparking clashes with police, scores of Shiites jailed on “terror” charges and reconciliation talks deadlocked.

Last year, authorities toughened penalties for those convicted of violence, introducing the death penalty or life jail sentences in certain cases.

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