Iraq: 46 Indian nurses “safe” but held by Sunni militias
New
Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The 46 Indian
nurses trapped in
Iraq "are safe", but still
stuck in Tikrit, where battles are raging between Sunni militias and
the Shiite army.
The brother of one of the nurses confirmed to the Times of
India that his sister phoned him
this morning. The nurse, whose name is Jency James, described
moments of serious tension overnight
at the Tikrit Teaching Hospital, where
they have been trapped since the beginning of June.
"I spoke to her
this morning - says the brother Bony James - and
she said all the nurses were asleep since they stayed up late last night as
there was a pitched battle between the rebels and Iraqi forces. The militants
are inside the hospital and have taken control. They have been nice and
courteous to the nurses and said that they were safe and would not be harmed".
Contacted by the BBC, Marina Jose - another
nurse - reported that the militants have asked them to move to the ground floor of the building, where there are the kitchens, for security reasons. The woman described high levels of "fear."
Meanwhile, the evacuation of the 46 women is still uncertain: the streets leading to the nearby airports in Baghdad and Erbil are still areas of conflict between the Iraqi army and Sunni militiamen of
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS, jihadists).
However, some nurses are torn between the desire to return to India and the
need to remain in Iraq. Many
of them actually asked for the loan to be able to move
to the Muslim country, and claim they
can only meet repayments because of the high wages
they earn in Iraq.
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