Iraq crisis: Centre gets proactive on Indian hostages; kidnappers may seek ransom

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired a high-level security review meeting on the Iraq hostage crisis on Friday, was, for the first time, given a detailed briefing on the issue by senior officials from top intelligence and security agencies.

Also read: Iraq crisis: 16 stranded Indians in Iraq moved out, one of the 40 Indians abducted escapes

Senior intelligence officials said that the available information indicates that an Indian and some Bangladeshi nationals managed to escape while they were being taken into custody by suspected militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS.

Modi was informed that the 39 Indians kidnapped in Iraq were part of a larger group comprising as many as 115 people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.

The entire group has been traced “within a five-metre radius in a government building in Mosul town and all of them are said to be safe as of now,” the PM was informed.

Also read: Iraq crisis: One abducted Indian escapes, in touch with embassy in baghdad, says MEA

On the issue of the identity of the kidnappers, the meeting was told that though prima facie it seems to be the work of the  ISIL, the involvement of other Sunni splinter terrorist groups cannot be ruled out at this stage.

Sources claimed that the meeting also briefed that the possibility of the kidnappers, particularly if the incident has been carried out by a splinter terror outfit, seeking ransom cannot be ruled out and thus there was a need for the government to be prepared with a contingency plan.

So far the Indian agencies have not been able to establish a direct contact with the kidnappers.

Of the estimated 120 Indians currently stranded in areas overrun by the ISIL, 16 have been evacuated, the Centre said.

Also read: Iraq crisis: Who is ISIS and what is the Iraq crisis?

The government said the Indian embassy in Baghdad is also in touch with the 46 nurses stranded in a hospital in Tikrit that has been overrun by the Sunni militants. These nurses remain within the hospital and have access to food and electricity.