
Police arrested the woman, identified only as in 30s and a UAE national, Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan said.
More details about the arrest weren't immediately available.
According to a diplomatic
source, the woman arrested was of Yemeni origin and had traveled back
and forth to Yemen "multiple times."
The woman was arrested
less than 24 hours after the attack. She is still being interrogated by
Emirati authorities and the investigation into the incident is ongoing,
the source said.
Police said a veiled
woman stabbed American schoolteacher Ibolya Ryan, 47, during a fight in a
restroom at the high-end Boutik Mall on Reem Island on Monday.
The alleged attacker was
fully covered, donning an abaya -- a black, full-length gown
traditionally worn by Emirati women -- black gloves, a face cover and a
hijab, or head scarf, police said. She fled the mall after the attack.
Police believe Ryan, who was married with 11-year-old twins, did not know the attacker, Al Nahyan said.
Later Monday, the suspect
placed a primitive bomb in front of a house where an American Muslim
doctor lives, said Al Nahyan, adding that authorities had video of the
event.
The doctor's son saw the object and called police, Al Nahyan said. Police defused the device.
Investigators believe
that the attacker wanted to create chaos and spread fear, Al Nahyan
said. He didn't discuss possible motives beyond that.
Al Nahyan didn't say what led police to identify and arrest the suspect.
Surveillance video
released by police shows the moments before and after the mall stabbing.
A veiled figure that police identified as the attacker walks calmly in
through a parking lot entrance, speaking to security guards, picking up a
paper and disappearing around the corner out of sight.
The video later shows the suspect running to an elevator and then leaving the mall through the same parking lot doors.
The U.S. Embassy in Abu
Dhabi issued a statement, back in October, warning U.S. citizens of an
anonymous Internet post that encouraged attacks against teachers at
American and other international schools.
The embassy was unaware
of any specific, credible threat at that time, but called on citizens to
be vigilant about their personal security.
Reem Island is a newly developed area of Abu Dhabi where many Western expatriates live.
Source:CNN
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