Andhra doctor rescued from IS clutches in libya

A doctor from Eluru in Andhra Pradesh who had been kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Libya last year has been rescued and is being brought back to India, the government said.

The information was tweeted by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj late on Tuesday night.

"We have rescued Dr. Ramamurthy Kosanam in Libya. Dr. Kosanam has suffered a bullet injury. We are bringing him to India shortly. With this, we have rescued all the six Indians abducted there. I appreciate the good work done by our mission there."

Ramamurthy was working as a physician in the Lbn-e-Sina Hospital at Sirte. On September 8 last year, a group of IS militants entered the hospital and kidnapped Ramamurthy, engineer Samal Pravash Ranjan of Odisha and seven Filipino nurses from their residential quarters.

India had secured the release of two nationals from the captivity of suspected Islamic State fighters in September 2016 after protracted negotiations.

--IANS

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