Abu Dhabi stabbing leads to ‘ lone wolf’ terrorist fears
ABU DHABI, U. A. E. — Police in the United Arab Emirates have arrested a woman they say is behind the stabbing death of an American teacher and a separate plot to bomb another American’s house, a top official said Thursday as authorities moved swiftly to calm fears of instability in the normally peaceful Gulf country.
Interior Minister Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also deputy prime minister, said the attacker targeted her victims based on their nationality alone in an attempt to create chaos and terrorize the country. He called the stabbing of the woman, who previously lived in Colorado, a crime that is “alien to our secure country.”
“The victim of this brutal crime was a schoolteacher who was committed to building strong future generations,” he said.
Word of the gruesome killing, which left a trail of blood in a public bathroom at an Abu Dhabi mall, has rattled the Emirates, a western- allied, seven- state Gulf federation that includes the glitzy commercial hub of Dubai. Violent crime and terrorist attacks are rare in the oil- rich country, where the foreignborn population numbers 76 per cent.
The attack has raised fears that the country could be targeted by Islamic State- inspired “lone wolf” terrorist attacks.
Police say the teacher was stabbed to death by a butcher’s knife- wielding attacker shrouded in an abaya and sheyla, the full black veil commonly worn by women throughout the Gulf Arab region. Emirati authorities identified the victim by the initials I. R. and said she was 47 years old.
The company that placed the victim in the Abu Dhabi teaching job, Vancouver- based Footprints Recruiting, gave her name as Ibolya Ryan. Managing director Ben Glickman said Ryan started teaching in the country last August or September and hoped to continue working there.
“She was really a kind and enthusiastic person, and she was really enjoying her time over there,” Glickman said.