39 Indians in ISIS captivity in Iraq: Arab world helping to get them free, says Sushma

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday met the family members of 39 Indians who were held hostage for over a year by the notorious ISIS terror group in Iraq and said that the entire Arab world has promised to help us in securing their release.

“Up until now, we were getting info indirectly but when I visited Bahrain I received information directly,” the union minister said.

Last year, the ministry had said that all 39 Indians held hostage in Iraq by the Islamic State are alive.

On Sunday, the minister met the families members of the hostages for the eighth time since their abduction in June last year from Mosul.

She reassured them about the well-being of the nationals on the basis of information received from multiple sources.

Swaraj who was accompanied by union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, assured the families that “the government was making all sincere efforts for the safe and early release of the Indian workers”.

According to official sources, the minister told them that though there was no "first-hand confirmation" about the well-being of the 39 nationals but multiple sources have indicated that they were being made to work in Iraq.

Earlier, Swaraj had spoken to her counterparts in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as well as other friendly countries in the region for their assistance in the safe release of Indians in captivity.

The minister also assured the families, that as soon as some concrete proof on the well-being of the workers is received by the government, it would be shared with them.