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Prayed for captors, they gave me food and did not harm: Father Tom

Indian-origin Vatican priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was rescued from captivity of the Islamic State in Yemen, met PM and Sushma Swaraj.

New Delhi: Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was recently rescued from captivity in Yemen, on Thursday said he was happy that he has been freed.

Father Uzhunnalil earlier on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said the PM has asked him to take care of his health.

Talking to media in the national capital, Father Uzhunnalil said, "He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) was happy that I am freed. He said take care of your health now."

Indian-origin Vatican priest Father Tom Uzhunnalil who was rescued from the captivity of the Islamic State group in Yemen earlier in September reached Delhi on Thursday morning.

Father Uzhunnalil said he prayed for those who kept him. He added that the captors gave him food and did not harm him physically.

Read: Rescued from ISIS captivity, Father Tom reaches India, meets Modi, Swaraj

He said initially his captors had asked him who will help him, government or Church.

Father Uzhunnalil said, "Initially they asked who'll help me-govt or Church? After that don't know what they did."

Apart from the Prime Minister, Father Tom Uzhunnalil also met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after arriving in Delhi.

Uzhunnalil thanked the Almighty for his rescue from Yemen over a year after he was abducted by the extremist group. He was rescued on September 12.

"I am very happy, I thank the Almighty for making this day possible. All people who have worked in their own ways, I am grateful," Father Uzhunnalil told the media.

He was reportedly kidnapped on March 4, 2016, by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS, in Yemen, when they attacked a retirement home in Aden run by the Missionaries of Charity, killing 16 people, including four nuns.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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