6 from Bihar among 39 killed in Iraq
3 min readPATNA: At least five of the 39 killed in by IS hailed from Bihar. Unconfirmed reports said six from Bihar were among the dead.
According to (), the deceased from Bihar are Santosh Kumar Singh (35), Bidya Bhushan Tiwari (36), Adalat Singh (37), Sunil Kumar Kushwaha (38) and Dharmendra Kumar (39). The identity of one Raju Kumar Yadav, who is also believed to hail from Bihar, is yet to be verified.
Sources said Santosh and Bidya were natives of Sahsraon village of Andar block in Siwan district. Coming from modest family background, they had gone to Iraq in 2011 to earn a livelihood.
“My brother and Bidya worked in a construction firm in Iraq. A singleton, he was loved by everyone in the village. We last spoke with him over the phone on June 12, 2014,” Santosh’s brother told TOI on Tuesday evening, adding the families had not yet received any official communication from the MoEA.
Santosh is survived by brother, one sister, mother and father, who is a farmer. “I met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj 11 times in Delhi. She always told us the Indians had been taken hostage and were being made to work forcefully,” said Pappu, a Class XII student.
Bidya’s uncle Puroshottam Tiwari sounded inconsolable. “I don‘t know what to say. Since 2014, I had been pleading with the government to bring him back and today they say he is no more,” he told newsmen in Siwan.
Bidya is survived by his wife, two small children and mother, while his father passed away few years ago. “Sushma Swaraj had promised our uncle that she would get back my husband and others, but she failed,” Bidya’s wailing wife told reporters.
State home department sources said the state government had earlier been informed that 52 Indian had been missing and they included five from Bihar — all hailing from Siwan. Of them, 39 have now been declared dead, an official said and added the state government was yet to receive any communication from the MoEA regarding the deaths.
Pappu Singh said the families had not yet received any official communication from the MoEA.
Santosh is survived by brother, one sister, mother and father, who is a farmer. “I met external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj 11 times in Delhi. She always told us the Indians had been taken hostage and were being made to work forcefully,” said Pappu, a Class XII student.
Bidya‘s uncle Puroshottam Tiwari sounded inconsolable. “I don‘t know what to say. Since 2014, I had been pleading with the government to bring him back and today they say he is no more,” he told newsmen in Siwan.
Bidya is survived by his wife, two small children and mother, while his father passed away few years ago. “Sushma Swaraj had promised our uncle that she would get back my husband and others, but she failed,” Bidya‘s wailing wife Poonam Devi told reporters.
State home department sources said the state government had earlier been informed that 52 Indian had been missing and they included five from Bihar – all hailing from Siwan. Of them, 39 have now been declared dead, an official said and added the state government was yet to receive any communication from the MoEA regarding the deaths.
Courtesy: Kaplan Herald
