NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      HODEIDA, Yemen (CWNews.com) - Three nuns of the Missionaries of Charity religious order were killed as they left their medical clinic in Hodeida on Monday by gunmen wielding automatic weapons, Yemeni officials said.

      The gunmen fired on the nuns, who were wearing nurse's uniforms, from a passing car. One of the women was Filipino, while the other two were Indian. Security forces have already arrested one man in connection with the attack, and no group has yet claimed responsibility. Yemeni Health Minister Abdullah Abdul-Wali Nasher visited the Hodeida chapter house of the Missionaries of Charity to express the government's concern.

      Sister Nirmala, the successor to the order's founder, Mother Teresa, left Calcutta, India for Yemen where she will meet with the remaining sisters. The order has had a presence in Yemen since 1970 and has four chapter houses in the country with a total of 25 religious workers. The Hodeida clinic serves an estimated 450 physically and mentally disabled people.