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 who were stranded in a hospital in Tikrit in war-torn Iraq have been forced to shift and are in the captivity of the Sunni militant group ISIS. The government says they are "safe and unarmed", but admits the situation is "difficult."
Here are 10 developments in this story:
The nurses have reportedly been taken to a hospital in Mosul, which is under militant control. "They are safe and they have been given food," sources in touch with them told NDTV.
46 Indian and 10 Bangladeshi nurses, who had been living in a hospital in militant-controlled Tikrit, were on Thursday forced to shift in two buses. Most of them are from Kerala. (Indian nurses in Iraq in ISIS captivity: government)
Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy told NDTV, "All the nurses are safe. There is no reason to be anxious." Mr Chandy, who met Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday, said the nurses wanted to come back. "Our aim is to bring them back," he said.(We Are Like Prisoners, Say Stranded Kerala Nurses in Iraq to NDTV)
On Thursday, the government said the nurses agreed to move for their own safety but against their "free will.". Foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, "It is not a situation of our choice. It is a difficult situation." (Nurses in Iraq in a 'Difficult Situation', Government to Step Up Rescue Efforts)
Bringing out Indians from Iraq is the first major foreign policy challenge for the new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has been monitoring the state of 39 construction workers who were kidnapped from Mosul two weeks ago.
32 Turkish drivers held for three weeks in Mosul were released on Thursday and have flown back home. 50 other Turks, including consulate staff from Mosul, are still in captivity.
Tikrit, the birthplace of former president Saddam Hussein, has been the site of fierce fighting this week as Iraqi troops battle to regain control of the city from the Sunni insurgents group Islamic State - which was known as ISIS or ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
Islamic State insurgents and other Sunni Muslim militant groups seized towns and cities across Syria and Iraq in a lightning advance last month declared a ''caliphate" on the first day of Ramzan.
Indian nurses earn higher wages in West Asia and the Gulf than at home. Some of the nurses have been resisting returning to India because they had taken large loans to get overseas work.
About 10,000 Indians work in Iraq. Scores of them have returned to India since fighting began. The government says some 900 people are ready to fly home.
Post a comment