Kamel admitted killing the missionaries

A court in Yemen has sentenced a man to death for killing three Americans who worked at a Christian-run hospital last December.

Abed Abdulrazzak Kamel, 30, smuggled a gun into the hospital in the southern town of Jibla.

He told police he shot the three, including the hospital director and a woman doctor, because they were Christian missionaries.

Yemeni security officials say Kamel belonged to an al-Qaeda cell that plotted attacks on foreigners and Yemeni officials.

The ruling is a political one and violates Islamic Sharia law Abed Abdulrazzak Kamel

During the trial, he told the court he had co-ordinated the attack with another suspected Muslim militant, who is being tried separately over the murder of a Yemeni politician

Kamel came into the hospital cradling his Kalashnikov rifle inside a jacket as though it was a child, according to police.

He entered a staff room and shot dead hospital administrator William Koehn, Kathleen Gariety and doctor Martha Myers.

Kamel then went to the hospital pharmacy and shot pharmacist Donald Caswell, who later recovered.

Crackdown

Kamel condemned the verdict, saying he should have been tried by an Islamic court and not a civil court.

His lawyer said he would appeal against the sentence, which is usually enforced by firing squad.

US Baptists have run Jibla hospital since the 1960s

"The ruling is a political one and violates Islamic Sharia law," Kamel told the court in Ebb province, 170 kilometres (105 miles) south of the capital Sanaa.

Kamel was a student at Yemen's al-Iman university - which was briefly closed last year after allegations that it was a hotbed of Islamic militancy.

After the killing President Ali Abdullah Saleh sent a message of condolence to his US counterpart George W Bush, expressing shock and outrage at the attack on people who were working to help Yemenis.

Yemen has been a focus for anti-Western attacks in recent years.

In October 2000, 17 US sailors died in a suicide attack on the destroyer USS Cole in the southern port of Aden.

Since the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, Yemen has been cracking down on Islamic militants members in an attempt to shed its image as a haven for al-Qaeda supporters.

American special forces have been allowed to operate in the country.