User:967Bytes/Mother Teresa's Massacre in Aden

Mother Teresa's Massacre is a Mass murder crime committed by ISIS extremist  gunmen inside a home of elderly in Aden in 4 March 2016, 16 were killed including 4 Indian Catholic priest, 2 from Rwanda, and the rest are from India and Kenya, and including Yemeni 2 Guards and a cook, and 5 Ethiopian women and the rest are from volunteers, no elders were injured. One Indian priest was kidnapped named Tom Ozhonaniel. The identities of the attackers are unknown, and media outlets published a statement attributed to Ansar al-Sharia, one of the active jihadist organizations in the country, denies it's relation to the incident. The Indian foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj  pointed that the identity of attackers are "terrorist". The Times of India news paper said that the attackers belonged to the Yemen-based affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. without pointing to a source for confirmation.  Yemen’s United Nations mission suggested in a statement parking militants of the Islamic state behind the attack, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident. However it's not the first time an Islamic extremist targets christian organizations in the country. 

Background

Christian presence in Yemen dates back to the fourth century AD to hold a number of Himyarites embrace because the efforts of Theophilos the Indian. Currently, there are no official statistics on their numbers, but estimated at between three thousand to 25,000 people, and most of them are refugees or temporary residents. Freedom of worship, conversion from Islam  and establishing facilities dedicated for worship are not recognized in the Constitution and laws rights. At the same time, Wahabbi activities linked to Al-Islah was beening facilitated, financed and encouraged from multiple fronts including the Ministry of Endowments and Guidance, which says that its tasks "to contribute to the development of Islamic awareness and circulation of the publication Education and Islamic morals and consolidation in the life of public and private citizens."

Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa in Aden works since 1992, and it has three other centers in Sana'a, Taiz and Hodeidah. Three Catholic nuns killed in Hodeidah in 1998, two from India and the third from Philippines at the hands of a member of Al-Islah Abdullah al-Nashiri, arguing that they were calling to Christianity. In 2002, three Americans were killed in Baptists Hospital at the hands of another Al-Islah member named Abed Abdul Razak Kamel. Survivors say that the hospital was "a political football" often raised by Islamists (Al-Islah), talked  about it in mosques and hospital workers describing Hospital workers as "spies." But they emphasized that these sounds are minority among Yemenis. In December 2015, an old Catholic church in Aden was destroyed.

Since the escalation of the Yemeni crisis in March 2015, six priests from John Bosco remained, and Twenty workers of charitable missions in the country, described by Pope Francis by the courage to fortitude amid war and conflict. He called the Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia to pray for all the oppressed and tortured, expelled from their homes, and killed unjustly. In all cases, regardless of the values and ethics of the warring forces in Yemen on religious freedom, it is proved that the Missionaries of Charity were not active in the field of evangelization according to the testimonies of beneficiaries of its services.

The Attack

The attack on the house took place in 12 PM, when two armed men claimed they were going to visit their elderly mother aimed at persuading the guards to open the main gate. Once they entered, they began to shoot randomly, according to Indian officials at the Foreign Ministry. Entered the building and nuns were preparing the breakfast food for guests, four of the five nuns felt the danger and tried to hide in a convent, downed by bullets in an open area. All rooms were stormed and the tent of meeting was destroyed, as well as statues and crucifixes in the small church. some of the dead hads were tied back and shot on their heads, images allegedly for bodies of the victims and their hands tied to the back amid small pool of blood. In one of the pictures, show two women dressed in nuns laid ground in a dirt yard with blood on the head cover from the back, which means that the killer led them to the scene and shot execution-style at close range. The attackers, dressed in uniform, "semi-blue".

According to Catholic News Agency, the last prayers by the nuns before they were killed says

“Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward.”

Sunita Kumar, a spokesman for the charity Mission and described the killers as "demented", adding that "there is no other explanation as to why armed people would enter the premises of the home and shoot down innocent, harmless nurses who had dedicated their lives to serving others". Bishop Michael Lewis of the Anglican Church said that the house contained seventy or eighty elderly, many of whom are destitute in the streets. he also said that there is no doubt that Wahhabi sect were behind the attack, expressing his confidence that the incident will face revulsion of those who described them as "true Muslims" and native Adenis. The Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin commented, saying that Pope Francis 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. Francis described the crime as "satanic," he said that the nuns were "martyrs of today" , adding that they were killed by the attackers and "globalization of indifference," as he said. statement was published saying: 

 “in the name of God, he calls upon all parties in the present conflict to renounce violence, and to renew their commitment to the people of Yemen, particularly those most in need, whom the Sisters and their helpers sought to serve.”

Missionaries of Charity has announced to continue its work in Yemen despite the local conditions.

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Yemen
• Protestantism in Yemen
• Persecution of Christians
• Religious intolerance
• Toleration
• Freedom of religion in Yemen

References

[[Category:Terrorism]] [[Category:Terrorism in Yemen]] [[Category:Persecution of Christians]] [[Category:Christianity in Yemen]] [[Category:Freedom of religion]] [[Category:Christian martyrs]]