JERUSALEM, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- No one has taken responsibility for an attack on two women Christian missionaries that killed one of them, Israeli police say.
One of the women, Kaye Susan Wilson, told police she and Kristine Luken were stabbed by two men who appeared to be Arab as they hiked in a forest in the Jerusalem area Saturday. Wilson said she played dead until the men left.
The assailants are believed to be motivated by Arab nationalism, Shmuel Ben-Ruby, a police spokesman said. But he said no group has claimed the stabbing, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Police were releasing little information about the investigation. Wilson told reporters Wednesday the attackers tore off her Star of David pendant and then stabbed her in that place.
Wilson and Luken were members of Church's Mission among Jewish People, a British and U.S.-based group which preaches Messianic Judaism. Luken, 44, a former U.S. government employee from Virginia, had been living in Nottingham, England, recently, while Wilson, a native of Britain, is an Israeli citizen.
"She had an infectious love for God and a great admiration and love for the Jewish people and the Holy Land," Church's Ministry said in a statement.
Luken's body was to be returned to the United States for burial with memorial services planned in Jerusalem and Nottingham, the BBC said. UPI
