Militants never misbehaved, says the rescued nurses

New Delhi: It was a joyous and emotional homecoming for the 46 Indian nurses who finally flew  home to India on Saturday after spending several days caught in a tense and uncertain situation in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit.

The nurses had been stuck in a hospital in Tikrit where they worked ever since the town was overrun by militants from the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, last month.

They were then forcibly moved from Tikrit to Mosul - yet another town under the control of the Sunni militants - triggering fears that they had been taken captive by the radical outfit. However, they were eventually moved to the Kurdish city of Erbil and freed.

These nurses were among the around 183 persons stranded in Iraq who were flown back home by the government on Saturday. Many among the nurses described their rescue and return to Indian as a “rebirth”, while vowing never to return to Iraq.

It was an emotional homecoming for Lesima Jerose Monisha.  Her entire family from Thoothukudi had arrived at Cochin airport to receive her. “Till 9 am Friday we were not aware that the insurgents intended to set us free,” said a thankful Lesima.

Interestingly, the nurse described the ISIL members as  polite. “Being hard core Islamists,  the ISIL guards, who covered their faces most of the time, treated us honourably. They gave us good shelter and dinner in Mosul, but no breakfast, probably because it is the fasting month of Ramzan,” said Lesima.

Among those present to receive the nurses at Kochi airport was Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, who said their evacuation from Iraq was a “collective effort”.

However,  there is  no such succour for the relatives of 39 Indians who continue to remain captives of the  Sunni radical outfit in Mosul.