46 Indian Nurses Made Captive In Iraq
By Countercurrents.org
03 July, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Indian nurses like these have been arriving in numbers to fill a skills gap in Iraq since 2012 (file picture: AFP Photo/Ali Al-Saadi)
46 Indian nurses stranded in the militant-controlled city of Tikrit in Iraq have been moved "against their will" to another location and are in ISIS captivity.
"They are on the move right now. They agreed to shift for their own safety," foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, adding that their destination was "not known" at present.
On whether the nurses, who had been living in a hospital since the conflict broke out last month were now in captivity, Mr Akbaruddin said, "There is no free will in zones of conflict."
A group of 40 construction workers were kidnapped in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul two weeks ago, and all but one of them are still in captivity.
30,000 Saudi troops deployed to Iraq border
Saudi Arabia has deployed 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area, the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported.
The world's top oil exporter shares an 800km border with Iraq, where Islamic State insurgents and other Sunni Muslim militant groups seized towns and cities in a lightning advance last month.
King Abdullah has ordered all necessary measures to protect the kingdom against potential "terrorist threats", state news agency SPA reported.
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