Explosive device wounds four people in Yemeni courthouse

SAN'A, Yemen -- An explosion shook a courthouse where a militant was condemned to death last week for killing three U.S. missionaries, and a judge and three other people were wounded, security officials said.

A man detained in the courthouse yard carrying a pistol confessed to planting the explosive device in Jibla, 125 miles south of the Yemeni capital of San'a, police said on condition of anonymity.

Two other men were arrested after the explosion, which ripped through the building at 8:50 a.m. and caused extensive damage, police said. Officials did not identify the suspects.

Judge Hizzam al-Mufaddal, who was not involved in last week's case, was wounded seriously, while the other three people were injured slightly, officials said. There was no hearing in the court when the explosion occurred.

On Saturday, the court condemned to death Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, 30, after convicting him of the Dec. 30 shooting deaths of Kathleen A. Gariety of Wauwatosa, Wis.; Martha C. Myers of Montgomery, Ala.; and William E. Koehn of Kansas. The killings occurred at the Southern Baptist-run hospital in Jibla.

Kamel, who had been planning attacks against foreigners in Yemen, initially was linked to al-Qaida, but the Interior Ministry said Wednesday that investigations indicated he had no connections to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

Police investigating Wednesday's explosion questioned guards to determine how the explosive device was planted in the court.

During his trial, Kamel testified that on the day of the shootings, he walked into the hospital with a semiautomatic rifle hidden under his clothes and fired two shots at each of the Americans, who were at a staff meeting.

He told the court he killed the missionaries "out of a religious duty ... and in revenge against those who converted Muslims from their religion and made them unbelievers."

Yemeni security officials have said audiotapes with the voice of Osama bin Laden were found at Kamel's house. He was believed to be part of a group plotting attacks against at least eight targets, including foreigners and Yemeni politicians.

Bin Laden was born in Saudi Arabia but his family comes from Yemen, which supports the U.S. campaign against terror.

American officials believe a number of terrorist attacks in Yemen, notably the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Aden harbor in 2000, were carried out by al-Qaida.