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Nurses head home to India

July 4, 2014

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has freed a group of Indian nurses. When the rebels overran the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit on June 9, the nurses had found themselves trapped at work in a state-run hospital.

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Islamic State
Image: Reuters

Forty-six Indian nurses trapped in territory held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) crossed into Iraq's Kurdish region on Friday to await their flight home, authorities said. The situation of nationals trapped in an area of Iraq overrun by ISIS in recent weeks has proved the first foreign crisis for the new right-wing government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Ultimately, it is hope that has triumphed," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said. "I can confirm to you that those Indian nurses who were yesterday moved against their will are now free."

On Thursday, members of ISIS moved the nurses from Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit to the city of Mosul, also under rebel control. By Friday, the women could looking forward to flying home from the city of Arbil, the Kurdish regional capital.

"The government of India has agreed to send a special aircraft and send them back to Kochi tomorrow morning," Oommen Chandy, chief minister of the nurses' home state of Kerala, said Friday. "We are very thankful to the government of India, they have been very actively involved in this," he added.

On June 29, ISIS renamed itself "Islamic State," declaring its leader "caliph" of the unrecognized territory.

'Using other doors'

ISIS holds another 39 Indian workers in Mosul, Iraq's second-biggest city and the first to fall in the group's offensive, which has overrun swaths of territory north and west of Baghdad. The Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government could not immediately share details of how it had arranged for the nurses to return to India.

"Diplomacy works through the front door, we are using other doors," Akbaruddin said. However, he added that he had received assurances that the nurses "are all safe and unharmed."

About 10,000 Indians live and work in Iraq. Last month, India's Foreign Ministry announced that it would stop granting its nationals permission to travel to Iraq for work, and advised those headed there for other purposes to cancel their plans. India has announced that it would try to evacuate about 900 other citizens living in Iraq

On Thursday, ISIS released more than 30 Turkish truck drivers after three weeks in captivity. However, a separate group of almost 50 Turks seized in an attack on the consulate in Mosul last month remain in captivity.

mkg/slk (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)