American Woman Dies in Stabbing in Abu Dhabi

BEIRUT - An unidentified attacker cloaked in the black gown, gloves and face veil fatally stabbed an American teacher in a public restroom at a shopping mall in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the city's police said on Wednesday.

The Abu Dhabi police did not release the American's name, but said she was 37 and the mother of 11-year-old twins.

The stabbing took place on Monday during an argument that broke out in the women's room, the police said. After being stabbed with 'a sharp object,' the victim was rushed to a hospital, but later died.

The police were trying to determine whether the killer was a man or a woman. The motive was unclear.

The United States Embassy in Abu Dhabi confirmed the killing and said it was working with the local authorities. It advised Americans living in the country to keep a low profile and to avoid crowds.

The killing could raise concern in the United Arab Emirates, a wealthy Gulf Arab nation where the socially conservative local population is drastically outnumbered by foreigners who make up more than 80 percent of the population.

While tensions between those two groups occasionally arise, they usually take the form of arrests of foreigners for public kissing or drunkenness.

The country is not known to face an internal terrorist threat.

Over cinematic music, a video accompanying the police statement shows a figure dressed in black entering the mall from what appears to be an underground parking area and briefly speaking with a guard before entering an elevator.

The figure then emerges on another floor, and appears to speak briefly to another security guard before removing what appears to be a newspaper from a stand and going down a hallway, presumably to the restroom.

An hour and a half later, according to a clock on the screen, women were running in the hallway. The figure them emerged and got back in the elevator, then rushed out of the same door to the parking area.

Images from the bathroom showed blood spots lining white tiles and a large knife.

In a statement, Col. Rashid Mohammed Borshid of the Abu Dhabi police said that officers would care for the victim's two children until their father, the victim's ex-husband, arrived from abroad.

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