Woman arrested for U.S. mother's Abu Dhabi mall murder

Woman arrested for U.S. mother's Abu Dhabi mall murder in dramatic raid on home packed with explosives after she 'planted a bomb outside American doctor's apartment' in dual terror attack

A woman suspected of stabbing an American teacher to death in an upscale Abu Dhabi mall has been arrested during a dramatic night-time raid.

The 'face covered' suspect is an Emirati national in her late 30s, said Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed al Nahyan, the minister of the interior for the United Arab Emirates, at a press conference on Thursday. Her name was not released.

The woman was wearing a burka when she allegedly stabbed 47-year-old mother-of-two Ibolya Ryan, who once lived in Colorado, in a mall restroom on Reem Island on Monday.

An hour after the stabbing, the suspect then planted a home-made bomb outside the house of a Muslim Egyptian-American doctor, Sheikh Saif said. But the device, which was made of small gas cylinders, a lighter, glue and nails, was successfully dismantled after one of the man's sons found it.

Sheikh Saif added that the woman targeted her victims based solely on their nationality and did not know either of them. He said she 'aimed to create chaos, shake the security in the country and terrorize people in the UAE' - although investigations are still continuing into her exact motive.

UAE police have also told ABC News that the suspect was 'not lone wolf' and her house was 'a base of operations'.

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