Over 2000 Indians likely to return home from war-torn Iraq in next 48 hours

Around 2,200 Indians residing in southern Iraq are likely to return home in the next 36 to 48 hours, the Ministry of External Affairs has said in a media briefing over the weekend.

These include around 400 Indians in three batches from Najaf and Karbala who are likely to be back home tomorrow.

A group of around 200 Indian nationals returned from Najaf by Iraqi Airways flight on Sunday morning.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said Sunday that in the next 48 hours, all the 1,600 people who have expressed their desire to come back on tickets paid by Government would be transported.

Two other special flights from Najaf and Basra will bring 200 and 280 people respectively to Delhi over the next 36 to 48 hours.

A group of 117 passengers will arrive early tomorrow morning in Delhi by a commercial flight that will be diverted to Najaf to pick them up. Indian Embassy in Baghdad has provided tickets for 600 of them while tickets for another 600 have been paid by their companies.

In addition, tickets are being provided to another 1,600 persons by government for their return.

Chartered flights are being organized and travel documents are being processed by the Indian Embassy in Baghdad for the Indian nationals who have registered to return home. Four mobile teams of six persons each have been placed in Najaf, Karbala and Basra apart from Baghdad to collect the details of those who would like to leave for home.