Manama: A Bahraini sailor was injured when Qatari coastguards opened fire at Bahraini boats that had entered Qatari waters.
Qatari coastguards said that they fired shots in the air to warn off seven Bahraini boats that had strayed into their waters.
Six of them turned back, but the seventh did not heed the warnings and did not leave the area. More shots were fired and eventually one sailor was injured, according to Qatari officials.
A Bahraini security delegation is scheduled to hold talks on Sunday in Doha with Qatari authorities on the issue and to get an update on the sailor's condition, Bahrain's interior ministry said.
A local newspaper, Al Wasat, named the injured sailor as Adel Al Taweel, 37, from Dair, a coastal village north of Manama, the capital.
His sister said that Adel and the other sailors complied with the warnings fired after their boat strayed in the Qatari waters.
"He was taken to Hamad Hospital in Doha where he was treated and we were told that he is in good condition now."
Several Bahrainis or expatriates working on Bahraini boats have often been warned by Bahraini and Qatari authorities to avoid fishing in Qatari waters.
Qatar's coastguards have said that they are using sophisticated radars to monitor movements around or near their 550-kilometre long coasts, mainly to foil attempts to smuggle drugs. They said that their focus is on the northern coasts often used by drugs smugglers.
