200 Indians to return from Iraq Saturday night

Two hundred Indians from Iraq will return Saturday night by an Iraqi Airways special chartered flight from Najaf to Delhi, external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.

He said that in the next 48 hours, approximately another 400 Indian nationals would be returning to various destinations in India, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, through commercial flights.

"It is estimated that about 1,200 (Indians) would have returned to India at government cost by Monday," Akbaruddin said.

"In addition the Indian mission in Baghdad has been able to persuade Iraqi companies to send back approximately 600 other Indian nationals," he added.

The mission is also separately processing papers of approximately 400 other people who are in some major companies.

"Once these are processed the total number of Indians who would have returned to India in the last fortnight would be about 2,200," Akbaruddin added.