In Aden, south Yemen, a Catholic care home for elderly and disabled was
attacked on Friday 4 March 2016 as reported by Catholic news agency Agenzia Fides on the same date. The attackers killed in total 16 people. Four of them were Missionary Sisters of Charity, the Catholic community founded by Mother Teresa. Indian priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil - who was at the home at the time of the attack - is missing and local sources confirm that he was
abducted by the assailants. Though the attack has not yet been reclaimed, Yemeni authorities say the assailants are connected to the militant group
Islamic State. Bishop Paul Hinder OFMCap, Vicar Apostocik for Southern Arabia, says the "
local people loved the Mother Teresa Sisters and admired their way of serving others regardless of religious belonging". He suspects this is exactly what some disliked.
Henriette Kats, persecution analyst for World Watch Research, says: "Unfortunately this is a sad example of how the worsened situation in the country affects Christians, also or possibly even especially in areas that have been "˜liberated" by the Saudi led coalition forces," says Persecution Analyst Henriette Kats. "Government loyalists and coalition troops pushed Houthi rebels out Aden in July 2015. This recent attack sadly confirms the remark of the NGO leader in the country quoted in a
previous report that the situation for Christians is getting more and more dangerous especially in areas retaken from the rebels. This bloody attack must be a big blow the small group of Christians in the country. These missionary sisters are one of the few foreign Christians left in the war torn country. They went there to serve the local people and made a deliberate choice to
stay even when they were given the possibility to go home. They have literally put down their lives to serve the needy. May their memory be a blessing and testimony to many."
