A police ******r died in a "terrorist" blast in a Shiite-populated village in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, an interior ministry official an**unced Saturday. "Police ******r Mahmud Farid died Saturday before dawn from wounds sustained in a terrorist explosion at East Ekar", near Manama, said national security chief General Tareq al-Hassan in a statement published by national news agency BNA. Attacks on security forces have been on the rise in Bahrain in recent months, with three police ******rs, one from the United Arab Emirates, killed in a bomb attack in a Shiite-populated town on March 3. A**ther ******r died on February 15, also by a bomb blast, in a Shiite village during protests marking the third anniversary of Shiite-led demonstrations, taking their cue from Arab Spring uprisings elsewhere in the region and demanding democratic reforms in the absolute monarchy.