Police in the United Arab Emirates unmasked the knife-wielding killer of an American schoolteacher as Abu Dhabi police revealed that the cloaked terrorist was working with others in carrying out the brazen stabbing and attempted bombing of an American doctor.
Dalal al Hashemi, a 38-year-old Yemeni-born citizen of the UAE, was collared Thursday during a tense raid on a lavish compound in the Gulf Nation, according to ABC News, which first identified the suspect.
Earlier this week, al Hashemi was captured on surveillance video, cloaked from head to toe in a black abaya, entering the posh Reem Island Mall before lying in wait and ambushing 47-year-old mother of three Ibolya Ryan inside a public restroom.
Ryan was stabbed to death, prompting her ex-husband Paul Ryan to fly to the country and take custody the couple’s three children and handle her affairs.
Cops say the shocking mall bloodshed, which earned the suspect the nefarious nickname of the “Al Reem Ghost,” started a busy day of terror for al Hashemi, who escaped from the scene in a white SUV draped with the UAE flag. She drove to the Corniche section of the oil-rich city, where she planted a primitive explosive on the doorstep of the home of an Egyptian American doctor, a 46-year-old father of three with the initials of “M.H.”
“One of his sons discovered the bomb while he was heading to the mosque for the sunset prayer (Magrib),” Interior Minister Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan said at a press conference Thursday. “Security forces were able to dismantle the bomb at the right time before it was detonated.”
Chilling video of that scene shows the cloaked suspect walk around while toting a black roller suitcase. Cops say that’s when she placed the bomb on the Egypt American doctor’s doorstep — a primitive explosive composed of “small gas cylinders, a lighter, glue, and nails to cause maximum injuries when detonated,” police said.
But it was the eventual raid on al Hashemi’s home that police believe proved she was not working a “lone wolf.” Instead, the compound appeared to be the “base of operations” for a group intent on terror, police told ABC News.
Video of the raid shows at least one unidentified man taken into police custody, along with the footage of other knives, weapons and what appear to be bomb components.
In the video, police also show an SUV, matching one driven by the suspect. Inside, the steering wheel is streaked with dried blood, and contains a black suitcase matching the one the woman carried in the video. The car also contains batteries, knives, bleach, a gas canister and walkie-talkies.
Cops say the suspect “targeted her victims based on nationality alone” and has confessed to the crime.
Ibolya Ryan lived at some point in the Denver, Colorado area. She divorced her husband two years ago and eventually took a post in Abu Dhabi, where she taught kindergarten.
The schoolteacher's death comes a little more than a month after the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi warned of an anonymous threat against teachers that was posted on a Jihadist website.
That threat was only described as encouraging attacks against teachers at American and other international schools in the Middle East.
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