Groom kills bride in first night jitters

Sanaa - A bout of nerves prompted a Yemeni groom to shoot dead his bride and then turn the rifle on himself on their wedding night, a Yemeni newspaper reported on Monday.

Yemen's Thawra newspaper said the man, identified only as Mustafa, shot his 17-year-old bride right after her family dropped her off at the couple's new home after the wedding. He then killed himself.

"The groom and the bride spent their wedding night in the morgue," the paper said.

It said the man, from Baydah province east of the capital Sanaa, had suffered a sudden "nervous attack". It gave no further details.

Unlicensed weapons and ammunition are widespread in Yemen, a legacy of years of civil war in the impoverished Arab country.