``We are missionaries. We have to be buried where we work,'' MC governing council member Sister Frederick said.

The victims include the order's local superior, Sister Zelia (37), besides Sister Aletta (40) and Sister Michael (37). The former two were from India and Sister Michael from the Phillipines. The local Bishop had offered to embalm the bodies , and the date of the burial would be decided after consulting MC superior general Sister Nirmala, who will reach the Yemeni capital Saana this evening.

It was not immediately known whether the nuns would be buried in a cemetery reserved for the Missionaries of Charity community, as is done for religious men and women of the Roman Catholic church. The spokesperson said the families of the three nuns had been informed of the tragedy. Sister Zeliahailed from Bihar, while Sister Aletta was from Orissa.

Sister Zelia had taken her final vows in December 1985, Sister Aletta in December 1982 and Sister Michael in November 1988.

Denying press reports that Sister Nirmala advanced her journey to Yemen following the killings, she said Sister Nirmala had no plans to go abroad, ``at least not till Mother's first death anniversary on September 5''. She also denied reports that the sisters at the time of the incident were dressed in nurse's uniforms instead of the order's well-known blue-bordered saree. ``This is not true. They always wear the habit of their order, no matter what profession they are in.''

The mood in Mother House, MC headquarters here, today is one of gloom, with the nuns silently going about their work.

Special prayers were being held for the slain sisters throughout the day.The slaying of the three nuns follows the killing of an MC brother by miscreants last March in Bihar. Both the West Bengal and Bihar governments were investigatinginto the incident but nothing is known yet, a spokesman of the MC brothers' community said.