CAIRO — A security official in Saudi Arabia this morning said a military force from Gulf states has entered Bahrain to help deal with a month of political unrest in the island kingdom.

The Saudi official says the units come from a special force from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

He did not have information on the size of the force, but said they were deployed by air and road and will help protect key buildings.

The intervention sharply boosts the regional stakes on behalf of Bahrain’s embattled Sunni rulers, who have faced growing pressures from the country’s majority Shiites for sweeping political reforms.

The GCC members are Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.