Targeted doctor hails police actions to defuse bomb

The targeted doctor said Sheikh Saif’s phone call to him reflects the leaders’ ‘noble and civilised approach' to consolidate the security and stability of the UAE for its citizens and residents alike.

ABU DHABI // An Egyptian-American doctor, the target of a nail bomb planted outside his home, has praised the swift actions of Abu Dhabi Police in saving his family and arresting the suspect.

M H H, 55, praised the efforts and professionalism of the officers who arrested the suspect and for defusing the home-made bomb before it could be detonated.

The suspect is an Emirati woman who is believed to have fatally stabbed American kindergarten teacher Ibolya Ryan, 47, in a ladies’ toilet near Waitrose supermarket in Boutik Mall on Reem Island on Monday.

M H H, who has been working at a government hospital since 2006, said he had received a call from Lt Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior.

He said Sheikh Saif had assured him that the case would be investigated and that the perpetrator would receive a just punishment.

“They [the Police] relayed to me directly the details of what was going on. The phone call from His Highness provided great relief during that critical ordeal,” M H H told Wam, the state news agency.

“It reflects the noble and civilised approach of the leaders, and the government’s work to consolidate the security and stability of the UAE for its citizens, residents and visitors alike.”

The doctor said police actions were instrumental in saving the lives of his family members and anyone who might have been in the vicinity of the bomb.

Abu Dhabi Police’s Victim Affairs Office have sent M H H, his wife and three children to a hotel for their safety.

MHH also praised the United States and Egyptian embassies for their support, adding that he was surprised to learn that the attacker had allegedly targeted her victims based on nationality.

“[The attack was] a cowardly crime that is alien to the good UAE society, whose government is keen to show the highest generosity and hospitality,” he said.

“This crime is an aggression against innocent people whose only fault is that they are western nationals.”

Sheikh Saif said on Thursday that the suspect’s objective was to create confusion, undermine security and terrorise people, which was met with immediate response from the highest level of the government.

MHH said the authorities were alerted when his 13-year-old son found a strange object in front of their flat when he was heading to the mosque for prayers at dusk.

Security forces promptly evacuated the building and defused the makeshift device.

Police arrested the suspect, in her late thirties, less than 48 hours after allegedly killing Ryan, a mother of three.

An hour after the killing, the suspect – wearing an abaya, black gloves and a niqab – planted the home-made bomb (made of small gas cylinders, a lighter, glue and nails) outside of M H H’s home on the Corniche.

M H H, a medical graduate of the University of Alexandria in Egypt, did his post-graduate studies and training in the United States.

He was a nephrologist and lecturer at WellSpan York Hospital in Pennsylvania. He was also an assistant professor of medicine at Pennsylvania State University, and was awarded the Physician of the Year award by the Pennsylvania Advisory Board in 2003.

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