Fate of 39 Indians captured by IS still unknown: Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi

Baghdad, September 17: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the fate of 39 Indians captured by the Islamic State terrorist group when the extremists took over the city of Mosul three years ago is still unknown.

 

Notably, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Saturday Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi said the fate of 39 Indians captured by the Islamic State terrorist group is still unknown. He further said the situation was “still under investigation at the moment. I cannot comment any further.”

Interestingly, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the month of July this year told relatives of the workers that they might be held in a prison in Badush, northwest of Mosul, which Iraqi forces have taken back from Islamic State.

However, as soon as Mosul was liberated, Minister of State for External Affairs V. K. Singh visited Iraq on 11th July 2017 on an ultimate mission to bring all 39 Indian hostages safely back to the country. But VK Singh had to return back without any information, Iraqi forces committed him to find all the Indians as soon as possible. The Indian government has also activated various channels for locating those Indians.

Importantly, thousands of Indians worked and lived in Iraq before the terror group swept across the country’s north and west in 2014. Iraqi forces declared victory over Islamic State in Mosul in July after a gruelling nine-month fight.