Two elderly nuns stabbed to death in their home in Iraq

Two elderly sisters, both Chaldean Catholic nuns, were stabbed to death in their home in Kirkuk, city police reported Tuesday, saying the motive for the attack was not known, the AP says.

Kirkuk police 1st. Lt. Marewan Salih said Fawzeiyah Naoum, 85, and her 79-year-old sister Margaret, were stabbed multiple time by two intruders who raided their home Monday night near the Cathedral of the Virgin in Kirkuk. They lived alone and there was no sign of a robbery, Salih said.

Chaldean Catholics are an ancient Eastern rite now united with Roman Catholicism. Adherents live mainly in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq and most speak a dialect of Turkish.