Jharkhand village mourns nun killed in Yemen

Villagers in Rajawal of Jharkhand’s Gumla district are mourning the death of Sister Anselm, one of the four Missionaries of Charity nuns killed by gunmen in the Yemeni port city of Aden on Friday.

Villagers in Rajawal of Jharkhand’s Gumla district are mourning the death of Sister Anselm, one of the four Missionaries of Charity nuns killed by gunmen in the Yemeni port city of Aden on Friday.

Gunmen had stormed the old people’s home and killed 16 people including the four nuns on Saturday in Aden, Yemen.(AFP Photo)

A pall of gloom descended on Rajawal, 170 km west of state capital Ranchi, when the news of her death reached the village on Saturday. The 57-year-old nun had left for Yemen nearly two years back to serve people at an old-age home, officials of Missionaries of Charity in Ranchi, said.

A two-member team from the organisation established by Mother Teresa visited her village to console her family members after they got the news of her death through the media.

Cyprian Kullu, vicar general of Gumla diocese, said Sister Anselm used to serve the Rajawal parish.

The gunmen had stormed the old people’s home and killed 16 people including the four nuns. There were around 80 residents in the home run by the Missionaries of Charity. The three other nuns who were killed in the attack have been identified as Sister M Madrid (44) and Sister Reginette (32) from Rwanda, and Sister M Judith (41) from Kenya.

Read: Yemen attack: Indian nun of Missionaries of Charity among 16 dead

Father Tony, a priest from Bengaluru who was at the home, was reported missing after the attack, the first of its kind in Yemen.

Authorities in the district said they came to know about the nun’s death through the media.

“I came to know about a Gumla resident’s death in Yemen from you. I will let you know once I get any information,” Gumla deputy commissioner, Shravan Sai, said.

Gumla superintendent of police Bhimsen Tuti too did not have any information about the incident.