This photo taken on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, shows damaged homes due to clashes between fighters of ISIS and Iraqi security forces in Tikrit, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, Iraq. (Photo: AP)
46 Indian nurses stranded in Tikrit in war-torn Iraq have been shifted to another location and are in the captivity of a Sunni militant group called the ISIS, government sources have said. The government has emphasised that they are "safe and unarmed."
Here are the latest developments
They are on the move right now. They agreed to shift for their own safety," foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said. He said the Indian embassy had given them the nod to do so. (Indian Nurses in Iraq's Tikrit in ISIS Captivity)
Mr Akbaruddin refused comment on who had shifted the nurses, but said they were not moved of "their free will." (We Are Like Prisoners, Say Stranded Kerala Nurses in Iraq to NDTV)
The MEA official said their destination is not known at present.
"India is not alone in working on this; we have partners inside and outside Iraq," Mr Akbaruddin said. (Nurses in Iraq in a 'Difficult Situation', Government to Step Up Rescue Efforts)
Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, who met Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to discuss how to rescue the nurses, said, "They came out of the hospital and left the place in a bus. There was an incident when they were about to leave, 2-3 people suffered minor injures." (Bombing Near Building in Iraq, but Nurses 'Safe and Unharmed': Government)
He said Ms Swaraj and her ministry were doing everything for the nurses' safety and to bring them back to India.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, Ms Swaraj's predecessor in the MEA, said his party was in touch with the government and had been briefed. "Nothing should be done to endanger their lives...the government is handling the situation the best it can, sending our former ambassador as a special envoy was a very good decision. A lot of people who are handling the situation worked with me a few days ago, they are competent." (Stranded Nurses Should be Brought Back By All Means Necessary: Kerala Chief Minister)
The MEA said the writ of the Iraqi government does not run in the region and humanitarian organisations working there have not been able to reach the nurses. The Iraqi army is locked in a fierce battle with the Sunni militants to retake Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Till they were moved today, the nurses were holed up in the Tikrit hospital where they work. They had reported that they were treating people wounded in fierce street fighting.
Some 900 Indians are ready to return and are being flown out of Iraq; 39 Indians are in captivity in Mosul and unharmed, the government said. About 10,000 Indians work in Iraq, mostly in areas unaffected by the fighting between the ISIS and government forces.
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