New Delhi: Thirty nine out of forty missing Indian workers in Iraq since June this year have been killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists, according to claims made on a TV channel by two Bangladeshi workers, who were kidnapped by the terror outfit in the same month,.
The duo, identified as Shafi and Hasan, were working for a construction company in Kurdistan's capital Erbil.
They mentioned about one Indian worker, Harjeet Masih, when they met an Indian journalist who travelled to Iraq on spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shanker's peace mission.
They claimed that Harjeet miraculously escaped from the ISIS captivity. According to Shafi and Hasan, Harjeet informed them that he witnessed the killings of all his co-workers by the ISIS militants on June 15 after they were taken to a hilly terrain, 6 kilometres away from the spot where Bangladeshi workers were kept.
Harjeet somehow survived and managed to flee from the spot.
Both the Bangladeshi nationals were kidnapped by masked militants while travelling to Mosul from Baghdad on June 11. Indian workers are believed to be kidnapped on June 10.
Harjeet later managed to reach a place named Al Jamia and told ISIS men that he was a Bangladeshi worker named Ali.
He joined the Bangladeshi workers and lived with them pretending to be a Muslim. He offered daily namaz to deceive the ISIS militants.
Reports say that the current whereabouts of the lone Indian survivor is unknown.
Shaif said that Harjeet was a dark man, 5.5 feet tall & had little beard. He used to speak to the militants in English and he knew little Arabic.
Last week, the Government of India had dispatched two senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs to Erbil. Sanjay Rana, deputy envoy in Maldives, and Abu Mathen George, second secretary in Cairo, were sent to Erbil to strengthen the staff presence in the Indian camp in the Iraqi city.
