Four killed, six wounded in shootout at Yemen mosque, shooter also slain

Saturday, June 12th 2004, 10:22 am

By: News On 6

SAN`A, Yemen (AP) _ A gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle on worshippers in a mosque outside the capital during midday prayers, killing four people and wounding six, according to Yemeni police.

The shooter, identified by a police official as Abdel Fattah Saleh, fired randomly during Friday prayers at a mosque in the province of Dhammar, 40 miles south of the capital, San'a.

Saleh fled the scene, retreating to his house and refusing to turn himself in to authorities, a police official said on customary condition of anonymity. Police stormed the house and Saleh was killed in an exchange of gunfire, the official said.

An investigation was under way, the official said. But he said Saleh was not a wanted militant and that a domestic dispute may have prompted the shooting.

Yemen, a conservative country at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, has long been a hotbed of militant activity. It also is awash with weapons.

Authorities estimate there are some 60 million firearms _ or three for each citizen _ in the largely tribal and, in rural areas, lawless country.