At least 2 killed in Bahrain

What were days of peaceful demonstrations took a dramatic turn in Bahrain early Thursday morning when police swarmed into the capital and forcibly removed protesters from the Pearl Roundabout.

The police arrived with dozens of vehicles, surrounded the roundabout and started shooting "pellet bullets, rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators, witnesses said.

At least two people were slain early Thursday morning during the incident, hospital emergency services said.

The police were able to the roundabout of thousands of protesters and clear after that half hour convoy of about 42 military armored vehicles each armed with machine guns drove into the area.

An article Thursday in Bahrain state media quoted an official of the Ministry of Interior of the country talking about the crackdown.

"Public security forces carried out this morning the evacuation of the crowd and the protesters of Pearl Square after exhausting all possibilities for a dialogue with them, some of them have responded and left quietly, while others refused to comply with the law, calling for to intervene to distribute them, "Bahrain News Agency reported.

But the toll of the crackdown was clearly Salamaniya hospital in Manama.

A group of angry people gathered at the hospital, along with distraught families searching for loved ones.

Treatment in the hospital emergency room was a chaotic scene as the wounded struggled approached, some with head trauma, or suffering with bloody wounds in the head and chest.

A 15-year-old boy was nursing a leg wound he said was the result of a tear gas canister.

Bahrain is one of the last Arab states face a wave of protests following the uprisings that long autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt collapsed.

This week, thousands of activists are camping at the foot of the Pearl Roundabout, a Bahraini landmark. For days, the police were nowhere to be seen as about 3,000 people laid out blankets and tents pitched in protest.