11 Indian nurses rescued in Iraq, to return home in 3-5 days

NEW DELHI: A batch of 11 Indian nurses has been rescued from conflict-hit Kirkuk area of Iraq and will be arriving home in the next three-five days, External Affairs Ministry said today.

The nurses were brought to Erbil and were in the safe custody of Indian mission staff, the Spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry said.

They will return to Kerala in the next three to five days as their travel documents have expired and the mission was processing their new papers, he said.

Apart from the 40 Indians, who are being held hostage by Islamic militant group ISIS since June last year, it is believed that there may some more small groups of Indian nationals in different strife-torn cities of Iraq.

The 40 were working at construction projects near the Iraqi city of Mosul when they were abducted by the Islamic militants.