NEW DELHI — Dozens of Indian nurses who had been stranded in Iraqi territory held by Islamic extremists were greeted with hugs and flowers Saturday as they returned home to southern India.
The 46 women had been holed up for more than a week in Tikrit, where fighters of the Islamic State group have taken over. The nurses had been moved to a new area under the extremist group’s control, and finally crossed over Friday into Irbil, in Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region.
The Indian government organized an Air India plane to fly the nurses home from Irbil. It remained unclear whether the nurses had been held by the militants or were just stranded in their territory. The Indian foreign ministry gave no details of how their freedom was secured.
