No clue of 15 more Punjabi youths stranded in Iraqi city

There is no clue about 15 more Punjabis who were reported stranded in the war-torn zone of Iraq on Saturday. Jalandhar-based NRI Sabha on Sunday claimed that at least five of them were feared abducted by the militants of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

There is no clue about 15 more Punjabis who were reported stranded in the war-torn zone of Iraq on Saturday.

Jalandhar-based NRI Sabha on Sunday claimed that at least five of them were feared abducted by the militants of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

NRI Sabha president Jasbir Singh Shergill said some youths from Iraq on Saturday made calls on their information cell in Jalandhar informing that 15 were stuck in Sulaymaniyah of Kurdistan area in Iraq.
"One youth named Sunny contacted us and told that militants had kidnapped five of them when they were trying to escape to Baghdad. They were working at Ajmer Steel. When we tried to establish contact with him on Sunday, we could not," said Shergill.

Sulaymaniyah is situated about 450 kilometres from Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.

Gill said the stranded youth, who hailed from Fatehgarh in Hoshiarpur, informed that militants were entering their area.

"Sunny even disclosed they had no documents with them and the Indian Embassy in Iraq was also not coming to their rescue," the NRI Sabha president further said.

"After getting information from the NRI Sabha, the state government has taken the matter with the ministry of external affairs (MEA)," Jalandhar deputy commissioner KK Yadav informed.

"The ministry of external affairs informed that a person has been given the task of searching Indians in Iraq but there is no cue so far," said Yadav.