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4 nuns, 12 others killed in 'diabolical' attack on elderly home in Yemen

06 March 2016 02:29 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. There are few places in Yemen - homes, schools, hospitals - that haven't been scarred by the ongoing war ravaging that Arab nation, APA reports quoting CNN.

And now, a home for the elderly run by Catholic missionaries is among them.

The Vatican on Saturday reported the murder of four Missionaries of Charity members plus 12 others at an elderly facility in the port city of Aden.

According to an official Vatican News report, gunmen burst into the building Friday, went room-to-room handcuffing victims, then shot all 16 in the head.

Agenzia Fides, an information service for Catholic missionaries, reported the missionaries -- who belonged to the group founded by soon-to-be-sainted Mother Teresa -- were nuns. Two were from Rwanda, one from India and the fourth from Kenya.

The attack -- characterized by Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin as an "act of senseless and diabolical violence" -- spurred a sharp rebuke from Pope Francis.

Aden is on Yemen's southern coast, across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia.

According to Parolin, the Pope "prays that this pointless slaughter will awaken consciences, lead to a change of heart and inspire all parties to lay down their arms and take up the path of dialogue."

It wasn't immediately clear who carried out Friday's bloody attack. Yet the harsh, violent reality in Yemen is indisputable, as is its toll on the people there.