Endless wait for kin of two Bengal workers abducted in Iraq

For the families of two workers from Nadia district of West bengal, it is an agonising, endless wait. While 16 others from the district have returned home from the conflict-hit Iraq this week, the two men have been kidnapped by militants along with 38 other Indians.

In fact, 25 Indian workers, all from West Bengal, were evacuated from Iraq after conflict broke out in that country and have returned to their villages in Nadia, North 24-Parganas and Burdwan districts.

But families of Khokan Sikdar and Samar Tikadar are distraught. Their fate is unknown since they were taken hostage by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (now called Islamic State) militants around mid-June. Among the 100 abducted, 60 were from Bangladesh.

"It has nearly been a month since I spoke to him last... at that time he said his captors had taken them to Mosul... were feeding them properly they didn't harm him."

"But now I have no idea what transpired later as his phone rang a few weeks ago when I called him, but there was no answer," Namita Sikdar, wife of abducted Khokon, told IANS.

"Though we have approached the district administration for help, we didn't see our chief minister react to our plight," she lamented.

In a shaking voice, the mother of two said Khokon was working as a carpenter with a construction company, in the vicinity of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's home, in Awja village to the west of the Tigris river.

"He told me he was working near Hussein's home's boundary wall. The day before he was abducted, around 15th of last month, he said there was heavy bombing and people are scared," she said.

Dipali, wife of Samar Tikadar, said one of the Bangladeshis managed to escape and informed others.

The latest update with her is the insurgents had split the group into two - one from India and the other from Bangladesh.

"We just want him back. Money can be earned in other ways but I am worried about my family," said Namita, who repeatedly tunes in to news on TV for updates.