3 arrested in Yemeni mosque fire

Yemeni police arrested three men Saturday suspected of setting fire to a mosque and wounding at least 33 people, six seriously, police said.

Attackers locked the doors of the al-Ameriyah Mosque in Amran, 40 miles north of the capital, San'a, poured fuel over the worshippers and set fire to the building, the Yemeni state news agency Saba reported Friday.

It was not immediately clear if the attack was related to the ongoing conflict between the Sunni-dominated government and Shiite rebels in Saada, a province 110 miles north of the capital.

Amran is predominantly Shiite, but the locals are from the small Zaidi sect, which is closer to Sunni Islam than other Shiite traditions. It was not known if the worshippers attacked on Friday were Sunnis or Shiites.

A Yemeni police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, told The Associated Press of Saturday's arrests but did not provide further details.

"Unknown men set fire to the mosque, leaving behind more than thirty-three casualties who were admitted to hospitals in the governorate," said Amran Governor Taha Hajr on Friday, according to Saba.

Saba reported the attack was the third in Amran. In 2001, a man opened fire on worshippers, killing three, and in 2003 a bomb exploded in a mosque killing one man and wounding 50, the news agency said.

Government officials have not linked these previous attacks to the conflict in Saada, where followers of Shiite rebel leader Abdel-Malek al-Hawthi have engaged government forces in fierce fighting that military officials say has killed hundreds of rebels and government troops. The rebels, known as "the Young Faithful Believers," have accused the government of being corrupt and too close to the West.

Yemen, a poor, tribal country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, but has been an active participant in the U.S.-led war on terrorism since the September 11 attacks.