New Delhi: Iraq is witnessing serious sectarian strife with ISIL militants, capturing two key cities and marching towards Baghdad.Sources said the government was also in constant touch with the 46 nurses who are stranded in a hospital in Tikrit, another violence-affected city which also fell to the militant group.
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Now 103 Indians remain in the conflict zone including 46 nurses and 39 Indians in captivity. As many as 40 Indians were abducted from Mosul and one of them had fled from captivity and had shared various details about the captors to the Indian authorities which on Saturday had indicated that they had come to know about the abductors.
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Sources said securing the release of the kidnapped Indians and moving the remaining others from the conflict zone was the government’s top priority. India is understood to have requested Saudi Arabia also to help secure the release of Indians.
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Sources said the government was offering assistance to a group of Indians, which, according to human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, was stranded in Najaf. The Indian Embassy in Baghdad was in touch with the company which reportedly refused to return passports to the Indian employees.
