Bangladeshi nationals living in war-prone Iraq are so far safe and no Bangladeshi nurse has been held hostage in Tikrit, a strategically important city of Iraq, said the Bangladesh ambassador in Baghdad on Saturday.
A number of local media quoting Indian media claimed that 10 Bangladeshi nurses, employed in a Hospital in Tikrit city, have been in the captivity of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) supporters.
“There was no Bangladeshi nurse (in that hospital). Indian nurses were there,” ambassador Major General Rezanur Rahman Khan told UNB over phone.
The envoy, however, said some 31 Bangladeshi male workers, mostly cleaners, used to work in the hospital and they have been taken to a safe zone. “We’re in touch with them and they’re fine.”
Responding to a question, the envoy said, “Nothing is favourable here, but the good news is that there’s no report of casualty (Bangladesh nationals).”
Meanwhile, India brought back 46 nurses on Saturday by a special Air India flight who were freed by militants in war-torn Iraq on Friday evening, reports NDTV.
Nearly 50 nurses have been taken against their will from a hospital in Iraq’s militant-controlled city of Tikrit, the birthplace of former president Saddam Hussein, which has seen a fierce fighting this week as Iraqi troops battle to regain control over the city from the Sunni insurgent group ISIS.
An official based in Dhaka, preferring anonymity, said that most of the Bangladeshis are unwilling to return home from the war-hit Iraq saying they are yet to recover the money invested to go to Iraq.
Earlier, the government suspended sending workers to Iraq till confirmation of safe and secure environment there.
It is estimated that over 14,000 Bangladesh nationals are working in Iraq, mostly in the construction sector, according to the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka.
However, the unofficial number is about 30,000, while a few thousands more Bangladesh nationals had been waiting to go to Iraq for jobs.
Source: Prothom Alo
