Two Priests Killed in Venezuela Attack

Two Catholic priests were stabbed to death and a third wounded by assailants who broke into a school residence in Venezuela during an apparent robbery, the school said Sunday.

A school spokesman said the assailants climbed a wall to enter the Don Bosco school in the central city of Valencia late Saturday, and entered an area where the priests' rooms were located.

"They killed them with knives taken from the school kitchen," said Nelson Pena, a seminarian and spokesman for the school.

Interior and Justice Minister Miguel Rodriguez told reporters the murders occurred "under very strange circumstances."

"It would appear that two minors were involved. There was no forced entry and that school is difficult to get into," he said.

Pena identified the dead priests as Jesus Plaza, a 79-year-old Colombian and Luis Sanchez, an 84-year-old Venezuelan.

The school's director David Martin who was wounded, underwent surgery, while another school administrator was lightly injured, he said.

The crime comes amid rising violence in Venezuela, which has one of the world's highest murder rates.