December 30, 2002
Three Baptist workers killed
in suspected terrorist attack in Yemen
___By Greg Warner
___Associated Baptist Press
___JIBLA, Yemen (ABP)--Three Southern Baptist mission personnel were killed Dec. 30 by a suspected Muslim extremist who attacked a mission hospital in Jibla, Yemen.
___Hospital administrator William Koehn, purchasing manager Kathleen Gariety and physician Martha Myers all were killed immediately when the lone gunman burst into the room a room where they were meeting and opened fire. The gunman reportedly moved to another room and shot a fourth mission worker, pharmacist Donald Caswell, who was immediately taken into surgery and is expected to recover from an abdominal wound.
___Two of the missionaries are Texans. Koehn is from Arlington, where he has ties to Fielder Road Baptist Church. Caswell has connections to Eustace and Levelland.
___The gunman, 35-year-old Abid Abdul Razzaq Al-Kamil, was taken into custody by police. According to Yemeni officials interviewed by CNN, the gunman said he shot the Americans workers "to cleanse his religion and get closer to Allah." He reportedly entered the hospital with a concealed semi-automatic rifle posing as a father seeking treatment for a sick child.
___The attack at Jibla Baptist Hospital is the deadliest incident in the history of Southern Baptist missions. The three workers who were killed were career mission representatives with the International Mission Board. There were no immediate plans to remove other mission representatives from the country, an IMB spokeswoman said.
___The attack came one day before the hospital was scheduled either to close or to be turned over to another entity, presumably a Muslim charity. Jibla Baptist Hospital has been owned and operated by the Southern Baptist Convention for 35 years. It is staffed by 180 local workers, 13 Southern Baptist mission personnel and about 20 other international workers.
___The three workers killed were participating in an early-morning meeting when the attack occurred. The meeting was unrelated to the proposed transfer of the hospital. Observers in Yemen speculated the attack was related to the transfer, but the IMB spokeswoman said there is likely no connection.
___Koehn, 60, was scheduled to retire in October 2003. Myers, 57, was from Montgomery, Ala., and planned to stay at the hospital after it changed hands. Gariety, 53, was from Wauwatosa, Wis., and likewise hoped to remain in her job as purchasing manager. Caswell, 49, is a short-term mission worker.
___"We are devastated by this news," said IMB spokesman Larry Cox in a statement. "We are moving quickly to minister to family members located in the United States."
___Jibla Baptist Hospital is the primary presence of Southern Baptist mission work in the Islamic country of Yemen, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The hospital treats about 40,000 Yemenis a year, offering free care to those who can't afford it.
___Last year, IMB officials announced plans to close the hospital or give it away to another charity in order to focus on providing health services in rural areas. Many hospital workers were unhappy with the planned transfer.
___"Maybe institutions are no longer part of the IMB's strategy, but that doesn't mean that they aren't part of the Lord's strategy," Gariety, the murdered purchaser, said in a recent e-mail.
___ Last July, the People's Charitable Society, a local Muslim charity, offered to assume control of the hospital, which IMB officials called "an answer to prayer." As the Dec. 31 deadline for the transfer approached, however, no plans were announced and the transfer appeared unlikely. Hospital administrators made plans to close the facility. But in a Dec. 22 memo, administrator Koehn told staff members the transfer to the People's Charitable Society would indeed take place "on or about (the) 28th or 29th of December."
___ The IMB planned to continue to pay the salary of hospital personnel, including IMB representatives, who wanted to work under the new ownership, but only until the end of their current contracts and only if the new Muslim charity approved, according to the memo.
___Most IMB personnel were making plans to leave Yemen or transfer to new jobs elsewhere in the country. But four of the 13--including the three killed--planned to stay.
___IMB spokeswoman Anita Bowden said the IMB is not commenting on the status of the transfer.
___In a Dec. 19 e-mail, Gariety lamented the proposed transfer and the confusion surrounding it. "Praise the Lord it is Christmas time, because at least we can concentrate on the celebration of our Lord's birthday and wait on him for the answer," she wrote.
___ This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
___
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