American held after shootout, Yemen says

Home
World

American held after shootout, Yemen says

Article by: WAYNE PARRY and GEOFF MULVIHILL , A ssociated Press
Updated: March 11, 2010 - 7:48 PM

A New Jersey man accused of Al-Qaida ties reportedly tried to escape from a hospital.

3
comments
resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

BUENA, N.J. - Counterterrorism authorities in Yemen captured a U.S. citizen of Somali origin when he tried to shoot his way out of a hospital where he was being held after a roundup of suspected Al-Qaida members, authorities said Thursday.

Sharif Mobley, 26, was being treated at Republican Hospital in San'a, Yemen's capital, when he grabbed a security guard's gun and shot and killed the man during an escape attempt, said Mohammed Albasha, a spokesman for Yemen's embassy in Washington. Mobley then barricaded himself in a hospital room and was captured after a shootout with other guards, Albasha said.

Mobley was among 11 Al-Qaida suspects detained this month after a security sweep in San'a, officials said.

Mobley graduated from high school in 2002 in the southern New Jersey town of Buena, and records show he had previously lived in Philadelphia and Newark, Del. He moved to Yemen about two years ago, ostensibly to learn Arabic and more about Islam, a former neighbor said.

As his father, Charles Mobley, pulled out of the family's driveway Thursday on the way to see a lawyer, he said: "I can tell you this: He's no terrorist."

The Al-Qaida branch in Yemen has been linked to the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines jet.

Imam Abdel-Hadi Shehata of the Islamic Society of Delaware said Sharif Mobley used to live one floor below him in an apartment in Newark and occasionally worshiped at the society's mosque. The imam said Mobley never talked about politics or religious beliefs with him. He said Mobley moved to Yemen to learn Arabic and about Islam.

Michael Brothman of Vineland, N.J., said he graduated with Mobley from Buena Regional High School in 2002. He remembered Mobley boasting that he had a black belt in karate and being a fan of animé.