Captive Indian nurses taken to Mosul in Iraq

The nurses were forcibly moved by suspected ISIS militants from Tikrit yesterday

Forty-six Indian nurses, who were forcibly moved by suspected ISIS militants from Tikrit, have reached the Iraqi city of Mosul, according to a source.

 

The nurses were taken in buses from Tikrit to Mosul by a team of the Sunni insurgents on Thursday. They reached Mosul at around midnight India time, as per the source.

Though they are lodged in a godown-like hall without power, their takers have treated them well, mother of one of the nurses said.

"My daughter called me around 10.45 last night and said the group had been accommodated in a hall in Mosul. It appears to be part of a hospital. She could not speak more since the charge of her mobile phone was low. She told me not to get panicky if she did not call home frequently as she was not sure if there would be a facility to get the phone charged," said Sobha, whose daughter is one of the nurses of the group.  

 

The nurses have been stranded in Tikrit after militants siezed the city along with other areas like Mosul. The Iraqi government has no control over the regions at present.

 

The militants have now adopted a "tough" attitude towards the nurses, the source added.

 

Yesterday, MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin had said that the Indian government was in touch with the Indian embassy in Baghdad and had spoken to the nurses while they were on the move. 

 

He had, however, refused to comment on their exact location, but said, “In zones of conflict there is no free will. There are no norms, no rules. They are not going on their own free will." 

 

In view of the deteriorating security situation there, the MEA has already given air tickets to nearly 900 Indians to travel out of the Iraq. 1,500 Indians want to leave that country and have registered with the ministry. They are facing several issues such as overstay, lack of documentation, lack of residential evidence and cases of illegal entry.

 

In an advisory, the government had also asked people not to travel to Iraq.