ISIS targeted Indians, but spared Pak workers: Masih

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Batala (Gurdaspur), March 21

Islamist group ISIS targeted Indian construction workers in Mosul (Iraq) in 2014, but spared Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals, as per local resident Harjit Masih.

He had escaped the clutches of the terror outfit, which killed 39 of his colleagues. Masih said ISIS militants had told Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers to disperse.

“They then took us to a hilly area, where we were told to sit. Suddenly, they opened fire. I luckily got cover under the corpses. Later, I found refuge in a camp inhabited by Bangladeshi citizens,” Masih said.

He claimed that he did not remember the exact date or month when he and four others from Gurdaspur district — Rakesh Rocky, Dharminder Kumar, Malkit Singh and Kamaljit Singh —reached Mosul.

“It was in mid-2013 when we landed in Iraq after giving hefty amounts to travel agents. Each of us was promised a monthly salary of Rs 35,000, but officials paid us Rs 15,000. They promised to pay the arrears soon. We worked for the construction company for nine months before ISIS took control of our camp,” he added.