A young Yemeni had killed his neighbour, who was a muezzin, due to have been irked by his call to pray, local media reported.

The suspected killer, in his thirties, had repeatedly stabbed the 80-year-old man by a dagger while the muezzin was walking to the local mosque to call for the Fajr (dawn) prayer in the Yemen’s south western governorate of Taiz, local sources said.

After stabbing him, the young man then smashed the muezzin’s head with a big stone, they added. The muezzin was identified as Sheikh Mayhub Shamsan, who was also a mosque imam.

The attacker then holed himself up in his house and refused to surrender himself to police. Security forces stormed the house after learning that the suspected murderer was alone, said Captain Mokhtar Al Youssefi, a local police officer.

He tried to stop his arrest by attacking police with a cleaver, but security forces shot him at the foot, injuring him. He was detained and transferred to a local hospital, the officer added.