New Delhi: India claimed on Thursday that the 40 Indian nationals abducted from the northern Iraq city of Mosul are “safe” and that it knew the location where they are being held captive.
It also said that it is willing to explore all avenues to ensure their security.
Read: Transcript of Foreign Ministry spokesperson on the Iraq crisis
Also Read: 46 Nurses from Kerala stranded in Iraq
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said that the situation in Iraq doesn’t allow other Indians to come back to India, but when the situation is neutral, the government of India will take care of it.
Read Also: Indian mission in touch with nurses trapped in Iraq: Foreign Ministry
Reassurance! Minister @SushmaSwaraj meets families of Indians abducted in Iraq & assures them of all assistance. pic.twitter.com/V1HaUZ2v90
— Syed Akbaruddin (@MEAIndia) June 19, 2014The workers, mostly from Punjab and other parts of northern India, were working on a construction project in Mosul in northern Iraq, which has been captured by Sunni militant group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria).
India is in touch with various humanitarian agencies, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) and Iraqi government to gather more information about the kidnapping, according to the Spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry.
About 10,000 Indian nationals are currently in Iraq and the government said some 100 were stranded in violence-hit areas in that country.
The Ministry said it was in touch with the 46 nurses who are stranded in Tikrit town, which was also taken over by ISIS militants. In response to a request by the Indian embassy, International Red Crescent had contacted the nurses.
Also Read: Iraq crisis: 40 Indians in Mosul abducted, no ransom call yet
The government has sent former envoy to Iraq Suresh Reddy to strengthen the Indian Mission in Baghdad. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has said that his state is ready to bear all expenses for the safe return of Punjabis kidnapped in oil-rich Mosul town.
Militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have taken over vast swathes of territory as they advance on Baghdad, amid fears that the country could fall apart.
With details of the abduction sketchy, other families said they feared for the fate of the workers, who had been earning money on construction projects to send back home.
Read: Fighting nears Baghdad as UN warns crisis 'life-threatening'
Watch: ISIS militant posts new execution video
