WASHINGTON - The White House spokesman Jay Carney on Wednesday urged Bahrain to respect the universal rights of its citizens and refrain from violence.

Bahrain needs to respect "the universal rights of its citizens, their right to protest, the right to have their grievances heard," Carney said in his first White House press briefing after his predecessor Robert Gibbs left the post.

He also urged both the government and the protesters to refrain from violence.

"We are obviously watching events in Bahrain and around the region very closely. But our position on all the countries is the same, at the universal rights level," Carney said.

"Each country is different, and how they respond to the expression of the legitimate aspirations of their people is very important," he said.

Two Bahraini protesters have died in recent clashes with the police in the tiny Gulf nation. Bahrain's main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq said on Tuesday it suspended its participation in the parliament over the death of two protesters.

Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family while the majority Shiite population says they are treated unfairly in employment and other services. The kingdom denies such claims.