Three Us Doctors Shot Dead in Yemen

Three American doctors were shot dead by a suspected Muslim fundamentalist at a Baptist hospital in Yemen, security officials said today.

One of the victims was the director of the hospital; the other two, both women, were the chief doctor and another doctor. A fourth American, the hospital's pharmacist, was seriously injured in the shooting,

The Baptist hospital is in the town of Jibla in Ibb province, 125 miles south of the capital San'a.

The suspected attacker, now under arrest, has been named as Ali Abdul Razak al-Kamel. He entered the hospital hiding a semiautomatic rifle under his jacket to make it look like a child and then opened fire, killing the three doctors instantly, officials said.

He then opened fire in the hospital's pharmacy, wounding the pharmacist. A US embassy official in San'a issued a brief statement, posted on its website, condemning the attack "on American citizens who have long been providing humanitarian services to Yemeni citizens at the Baptist hospital in Jibla".

The embassy also asked Americans in Yemen to step up their security and said it was requesting additional protection for them in addition to sending a team to Jibla to help with the investigation.

Yemen has seen several terrorist attacks against western interests. In October, suspected militants attacked a French supertanker off the coast of Yemen, almost a year after suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network killed 17 US servicemen in a suicide bomb attack on the US destroyer Cole.

Bin Laden enlisted thousands of Yemenis to fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Many returned when the Soviets withdrew to become a political force in Yemen.

Despite the presence of Muslim fundamentalists, Yemen has joined the US in its campaign against terrorism after the September 11 attacks. US and Yemeni agents have worked together in a counterterrorism centre in Yemen equipped with sophisticated intelligence gathering facilities.

The Americans have trained Yemeni troops to fight militants and Yemen allows US warships free use of its waters and US warplanes use of its air space. Yemeni security officials say up to 3,000 US-trained Yemeni troops have been deployed recently in areas known to harbour wanted al-Qaida members.

In November, a CIA-operated Predator drone fired a missile that killed Bin Laden's top lieutenant in Yemen, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, and five other al-Qaida suspects.