3 killed, 25 injured in qat market blast [Archives:2006/940/Front Page]

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April 24 2006

By: Adel Al-Khawlani
SANA'A, April 23 ) At least three people were killed and 25 others badly injured Sunday afternoon in a hand grenade explosion in Shumailah Qat Market southwest of Sana'a, according to police and eyewitnesses.

Police confirmed to media that an anonymous individual hurled a hand grenade into the market, heavily crowded with qat sellers and customers, killing four and wounding more than 20.

A security officer said injured victims were rushed to various capital hospitals and noted that Shumailah Police Station surrounds the incident site. Police began investigating the case to identify the perpetrator, who immediately fled the scene following the blast.

Six of the critically wounded were taken to Al-Thawrah General Hospital, while others with minor injuries were treated in a private hospital near the market. However, other sources mentioned that 30 people were injured, three of whom badly.

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Eyewitnesses said the incident was caused by a quarrel between two individuals, one of whom tried to stab the other, who then threw a hand grenade into the heavily crowded market where locals congregate in the early afternoon to buy the mildly narcotic plant, the sale of which is warranted because it is one of the country's major crops.

The incident is considered the second of its kind in Sana'a in 10 days, as four people were injured in a similar blast nine days ago in Al-Jaraf area north of Sana'a. Some of the victims, who were transferred to Al-Thawrah General Hospital, remain hospitalized in the intensive care unit.

For the majority of Yemenis, qat, a centuries-old social custom, helps stimulate mental activity, long conversations and storytelling in this tribal-dominated nation at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, where use of the plant is ubiquitous. Many government and aid officials are pushing to cut the use of the rubbery green leaf with amphetamine-like qualities.

Qat is blamed for many of Yemen's ills, from widespread poverty to growing health problems. Realizing the bad effects of such a narcotic substance, Yemen's government announced policies to ban qat entry into main cities in an attempt to fight the product and encourage farmers to grow other useful crops instead, like coffee and cotton. However, it has been several years since such policies were declared and no qat ban was put into effect.

As part of its effort to enhance nationwide security and stability, particularly in main cities, the government issued an arms-bearing ban and intensified checkpoints at city entrances. However, government efforts to curb the phenomenon in a nation inhabited by armed civilians are thwarted by leniency of some concerned parties like the Ministry of Interior, which grants arms-bearing licenses to prominent sheikhs to enter and leave cities with their armed bodyguards.
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