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| Arabia |
| Bereaved, Angry Yemenis Mourn Slain U.S. Doctors |
| 2002-12-31 |
| Distraught and incredulous Yemenis mourned Tuesday the death of a U.S. doctor and her two American colleagues who were shot dead by a lone gunman at their Baptist mission hospital in this impoverish southern town. A somber mood pervaded Jibla, some 105 miles south of the capital Sanaa, a day after the attack that killed physician Martha Myers and two hospital officials. "This is treachery of the highest form," said student Ghaleb al-Maqaleh outside the clinic in Ebb province that treats almost 40,000 patients a year and provides free healthcare to the needy. "Dr. Martha was like a mother to all us and to all the residents of Ebb. Whoever committed this crime killed us all." An American pharmacist was also wounded in the attack, which the Yemeni Interior Ministry described as the work of an "Islamist extremist." The gunman has been identified as 30-year-old Abed Abdel Razzak Kamel from Sanaa. Abdel Karim Ali, a storeowner in Jibla, blasted Kamel as an "inhumane murderer." "This has been such a shock, a dreadful shock because the whole team were so good to us," Ali declared. "No one from here would even consider doing this." Jibla housewife Afaf called on the government to provide more protection for foreigners in Yemen. There are 30,000 Americans living in Yemen, most of them naturalized Yemenis. "These people are guests in our country. They must feel safe and they must understand that no true Muslim or Yemeni would do something so heinous," she said. A little backlash going on here in Yemen. It's one thing to read about the "brave mujahadeen" fighting for islam in a far away place. But when good people who you have known your whole live are killed just because they are of a different faith, it kind of opens your eyes. Local security sources said Kamel was a comrade of Ali Jarallah, an Islah Party member who shot dead a prominent opposition official earlier this week. Both men were trained in Afghanistan, the sources said. Like we couldn't have guessed |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 "This is treachery of the highest form," "These people are guests in our country. They must feel safe and they must understand that no true Muslim or Yemeni would do something so heinous," And THESE are the sort of statement we'd really like to be hearing from the other 99.999% of the muslims... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2002-12-31 23:34:20 |