40 Indians abducted in Iraq
June 18, 2014, 8:54 am

In this Monday, June 16, 2014 file photo, Demonstrators chant pro-al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq [AP]

The Indian government confirmed Wednesday that forty Indians were abducted in Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq.

“It is with deep, deep sadness we to inform you that 40 workers of the Tariq Noor Al Huda construction company have been abducted,” Indian External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Wednesday.

International Red Crescent has confirmed that they have been kidnapped, but is unaware of their location, said Akbaruddin.

Most of the workers kidnapped in Iraq are from northern India, many from the state of Punjab. Meanwhile, 46 Indian nurses are also stranded in the fallen city of Tikrit.

Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and officers fled their posts in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh last Tuesday, which paved the way for Sunni militants, including those who are linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an Al-Qaida offshoot, to seize the provincial city of Mosul and then large parts of provinces of Salahudin and Diyala.

In the week since it captured Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work, says an Associated Press report.

Insurgent outfits have seized the two cities of Mosul and Tikrit. Signs emerged Tuesday of a reprisal sectarian slaughter of Sunnis in Iraq, as police said pro-government Shiite militiamen killed nearly four dozen detainees after insurgents tried to storm the jail northeast of Baghdad.

The Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said a former Indian envoy is being sent to Baghdad to strengthen the Indian Mission there which is trying to help the Indians in violence-affected areas.

“And we have decided to strengthen the embassy by sending a seasoned Indian diplomat Mr Suresh Reddy who will travel today to Baghdad to assist the embassy in its efforts,” Akbaruddin said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki on Tuesday sacked some senior security officers for their failing to halt the advance of Sunni insurgent groups, a statement issued by his office said.

“We have decided to punish a number of officers who failed in the performance of their professional and national duties,” Maliki said in the statement.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has said that he will send “up to” 275 soldiers to Iraq to primarily secure the embassy in Baghdad and assist the government there in its fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Senior journalist and foreign policy analyst Robert Dreyfuss has said the rise of ISIS presents a grave challenge to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, and that provides a glimmer of hope for a solution.

“If the Syria-Iraq civil war is to be resolved, therefore, that solution must start with détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In Syria, that means that Tehran and Riyadh will have to work toward an accommodation between Assad and/or elements of his government and key segments of the Syrian armed opposition, while working together to isolate Al Qaeda, ISIS and the extremists. And in Iraq, it means that Tehran and Riyadh – along with Turkey, which has important influence with both Sunnis and Kurds there – must work hard to prod, cajole and persuade their allies inside Iraq to settle their main differences and set up a true government of national unity in Baghdad,” writes Dreyfuss.

TBP and Agencies