2 Pinays kidnapped in Iraq released

The two Filipino women kidnapped on Friday on a road linking the Iraqi capital Baghdad to the Kurdish city of Erbil have been released, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed yesterday.

Iraqi authorities informed the Philippine embassy in Baghdad on Sunday that the two overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are under police custody after they were rescued in Diyala province north of the capital on Saturday.

The DFA expressed its gratitude to Iraqi authorities for the swift and successful rescue of the two OFWs.

In his report to the DFA, Chargé d’Affaires Julius Tor- res said the two OFWs were rescued from members of a criminal group who forcibly took them on Friday.

Police arrested several members of the criminal group during the rescue operation. Charges are being prepared against them.

Torres said the embassy has also requested access to the two rescued OFWs and the two other Filipina women who were earlier taken into custody after escaping from the same group of armed men.

According to reports, the four Filipino women came from Erbil in the northern Kurdistan region and were on their way to Baghdad when their vehicle encountered the armed men along the highway in Uzem district between Kirkuk and Diyala.

The armed men took the women after their driver abandoned their vehicle. Two of the four women escaped from their captors.

The incident is reportedly the first case of kidnapping of foreigners in Iraq since Iraq’s announcement of victory against the Islamic State in December.

Torres said the embassy would request custody of the four women as soon as the police investigation is concluded so that they could immediately be repatriated.

Last July 6, three Filipinos in Libya were reportedly kidnapped.