A number of policemen and civilians were injured and taken to hospital during the riots which flared up for the second successive night in the Seef area on Thursday, said an Interior Ministry statement last night.

Several cars, shops and houses in the area suffered considerable damage, with rioters burning tyres, setting refuse bins ablaze and exploding gas cylinders.

"The true aim underlying the riots was to sabotage security and impose the logic of violence," said the statement, which condemned the events as unacceptable.