Indian nurses moved out of Iraqi city

External affairs ministry said they had no information where they were being taken to

Sunni insurgents Thursday moved out all 46 Indian insurgents holed up in a hospital in the Iraqi city of Tikrit.

The external affairs ministry said the nurses were "on the road" but added there was no information where they were being taken to.

Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told the media that the nurses were safe but some had suffered "minor injuries" during the shifting. He didn't provide further details.

The official underlined, however, that they were not being moved on "their free will".

Asked if the Sunni insurgents who have made rapid advances in Iraq in recent weeks had shifted them forcibly, Akbaruddin said: "In zones of conflict there is no free will. There are no expressions of free will."

Pressed to reveal who had taken them, the spokesman said: "Everything need not be said."

One nurse earlier told an Indian television channel that they were being moved by the Sunni insurgents to Mosul.