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CNN Live At Daybreak
First Look Inside Yemeni Hospital
Aired January 03, 2003 - 06:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has an exclusive look now inside the Yemeni hospital where American missionaries were gunned down by an Islamic militant.
Our Rula Amin joins us by videophone from the town of Jibla with the world's first look at the Baptist hospital -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we're here at the Baptist hospital in Jibla. Behind me is the courtyard for the outpatients. On Monday, an Islamic extremist, 32 years old, came in, went -- you see the door behind me that's open on the right, he came in from that door saying that he wants to buy a telephone card. Then from that room he went in to another room, where you see that the door is closed, and there he shot three missionaries, including the director of the hospital and a doctor. Three of them were killed. And then he went out from that room, went to the pharmacy and shot the pharmacist who did survive his shots. He's the only survivor.
Now two of the victims were buried here in the hospital's grounds. This was their wish. They wanted to be buried in Yemen. They have been working here in Jibla for years and years, over two decades. This is a Baptist hospital that has been here for 35 years serving about 40,000 people, Yemenis, around this area.
And today on this day there are about 25 staffers, international staffers, who have went to the capital somehow (ph) when the attacks took place. They are on their way -- on their way back here to the hospital. The hospital had been -- when the attacks took place was in a condition era (ph). They were trying to transfer the administration of the hospital to the government here, but the international staffers, 28 of them, were going to stay.
Now most of them are going to stay despite this incident. We spoke to Lee Hexon (ph) who's a deputy director who told us that he is staying and his family is staying. He's here with his wife and his two kids, teenagers, and they're still staying because they say they feel safe despite this attack.
People here in Jibla have been very strong in condemning the attacks. Today in the morning when we came here, they came, they were paying their condolences according to the Arabic's tradition, because in the Arabic tradition you keep on saying condolences for three days. So we had a huge crowd of people, local officials from Jibla who came, paid their condolences, said they support the hospital, they would do anything to serve the hospital.
At the same time as the Friday prayers (ph) here in Jibla, we heard a man giving his sermon condoning and (ph) the use of violence saying that terrorism has nothing to do with this country. But investigators are very worried here from this attack. FBI investigators, along with Yemeni investigators, were here. They are checking into this incident. They want to make sure what is this was all about. Was it a lone gunman acting according to his own belief or was it part of a larger group?
The gunman told the investigators he did this because he wanted to get closer to God and that these were missionaries trying to spread Christianity among Muslims. But the investigators seem to think that this was a coordinated attack with another attack on a popular leftist political leader who was assassinated on Saturday. And now they're looking into the possibility that this may be a homegrown group targeting missionaries, targeting foreigners, targeting secular Yemeni political figures as well as the president, we are told.
Now so far there has been no link established to al Qaeda, but that is still a possibility -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rula Amin, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 3, 2003 - 06:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: CNN has an exclusive look now inside the Yemeni hospital where American missionaries were gunned down by an Islamic militant.
Our Rula Amin joins us by videophone from the town of Jibla with the world's first look at the Baptist hospital -- Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, we're here at the Baptist hospital in Jibla. Behind me is the courtyard for the outpatients. On Monday, an Islamic extremist, 32 years old, came in, went -- you see the door behind me that's open on the right, he came in from that door saying that he wants to buy a telephone card. Then from that room he went in to another room, where you see that the door is closed, and there he shot three missionaries, including the director of the hospital and a doctor. Three of them were killed. And then he went out from that room, went to the pharmacy and shot the pharmacist who did survive his shots. He's the only survivor.
Now two of the victims were buried here in the hospital's grounds. This was their wish. They wanted to be buried in Yemen. They have been working here in Jibla for years and years, over two decades. This is a Baptist hospital that has been here for 35 years serving about 40,000 people, Yemenis, around this area.
And today on this day there are about 25 staffers, international staffers, who have went to the capital somehow (ph) when the attacks took place. They are on their way -- on their way back here to the hospital. The hospital had been -- when the attacks took place was in a condition era (ph). They were trying to transfer the administration of the hospital to the government here, but the international staffers, 28 of them, were going to stay.
Now most of them are going to stay despite this incident. We spoke to Lee Hexon (ph) who's a deputy director who told us that he is staying and his family is staying. He's here with his wife and his two kids, teenagers, and they're still staying because they say they feel safe despite this attack.
People here in Jibla have been very strong in condemning the attacks. Today in the morning when we came here, they came, they were paying their condolences according to the Arabic's tradition, because in the Arabic tradition you keep on saying condolences for three days. So we had a huge crowd of people, local officials from Jibla who came, paid their condolences, said they support the hospital, they would do anything to serve the hospital.
At the same time as the Friday prayers (ph) here in Jibla, we heard a man giving his sermon condoning and (ph) the use of violence saying that terrorism has nothing to do with this country. But investigators are very worried here from this attack. FBI investigators, along with Yemeni investigators, were here. They are checking into this incident. They want to make sure what is this was all about. Was it a lone gunman acting according to his own belief or was it part of a larger group?
The gunman told the investigators he did this because he wanted to get closer to God and that these were missionaries trying to spread Christianity among Muslims. But the investigators seem to think that this was a coordinated attack with another attack on a popular leftist political leader who was assassinated on Saturday. And now they're looking into the possibility that this may be a homegrown group targeting missionaries, targeting foreigners, targeting secular Yemeni political figures as well as the president, we are told.
Now so far there has been no link established to al Qaeda, but that is still a possibility -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, Rula Amin, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
