Yemeni executed for 2002 killings of Southern Baptist medical workers

Baptist Press

SAN'A, Yemen - The Yemeni gunman who killed three Southern Baptist medical workers in 2002 was executed by firing squad Feb. 27, according to wire reports.

Abed Abdul Razak Kamel was shot in the central prison of the southern Ibb province as judicial officials observed, Yemen's Saba state news agency reported.

Kamel was convicted for the Dec. 30, 2002, shooting deaths of Jibla Baptist Hospital director William Koehn, physician Martha Myers and purchasing agent Kathleen Gariety. A pharmacist was seriously wounded but later recovered. Kamel admitted in court to coordinating the attack with Islamic militant activist Ali al-Jarallah. Al-Jarallah was executed Nov. 27 for plotting the medical workers' deaths and for assassinating a prominent national politician.

Yemeni officials believe both were tied to the al Qaeda terrorist network. Police reported finding audiotapes of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Kamel's home after the murders. Yemen is bin Laden's ancestral home.

The Jibla Baptist Hospital provided care for thousands of people in the impoverished Middle Eastern nation for more than 30 years after it was started in the Ibb province by Southern Baptist workers. It was reopened in 2003 by the Yemeni government's health ministry and continues its work under the name Peace Hospital.