New Delhi, June 25
India is hopeful of securing the safe release of 39 Indian construction workers, mostly from Punjab, who are in the custody of Sunni militants in strife-torn Mosul in Iraq, a top Indian official told The Tribune from Baghdad.

"We are working on different channels. We hope to get them released," the official said.

Asked if the abductors had demanded ransom or if India had sought the assistance of Saudi Arabia to secure their release, the official said he would not be able to say anything more. He, however, confirmed that the hostages were unharmed.

The official denied reports about the killing of any Indian worker. "So far, we have not come across a case of any Indian having been killed."

Earlier in the day, another official at the Indian Embassy control room in Baghdad said most Indians in Iraq were reluctant to return home despite advisories issued by the government asking them to leave the Arab nation in view of the volatile situation there.

According to the Indian Embassy in Baghdad, a majority of nearly 10,000 Indians in Iraq were working in the autonomous Kurdistan region or the port city of Basra, which were unaffected by the hostilities between the Iraqi forces and Sunni militants. “We have been asking every Indian to go back because of the threat that the situation may deteriorate further, but most of them are not willing…they say they are happy and moving about freely,” an Indian official at the control room set up by the government to help Indians in Iraq told The Tribune.

India has evacuated two nurses from a hospital in Iraq's conflict zone. "Two nurses in the conflict zone, other than the group of 46 (in Tikrit), have been rescued and evacuated. They are now in Karbala, a safe place," said a spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs. The spokesperson did not specify the place from where the two nurses were pulled out.