(Image source from: The News Minute)

Kidnapped Indian Priest Tom Uzhunnalil Rescued From Yemen:- An Indian priest, Father Tom Uzhunnalil, kidnapped after an attack on a old-age home run in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, last year has been released from captivity in Yemen. The old-age home is run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

Father Tom Uzhunnalil was abducted in March 2016 when four gunmen posing as relatives of one of the residents at the home burst inside, killing four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard.

The priest from Kottayam, who has been taken to Muscat, will be flown back to Kerala later on Tuesday. It was reported that the priest was rescued after the intervention of the Oman foreign ministry. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: “I am happy to inform that Father Tom Uzhunnalil has been rescued.”

I am happy to inform that Father Tom Uzhunnalil has been rescued.pic.twitter.com/FwAYoTkbj2

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) September 12, 2017

In December 2016, Father Uzhunnalil had appealed to Pope Francis and the Indian government through a purported video to secure his release from his captors.

At the time of the incident, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack and the motive for the incident was unclear, but President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has called it an act of terrorism.

“They are treating me well to the extent they are able,” the white-bearded Uzhunnalil said, speaking slowly in English.

“My health condition is deteriorating quickly and I require hospitalization as early as possible,” he added in the recording carried by a leading news channel. The date April 15, 2017 was written on a cardboard pasted on his body. Uzhunnalil said his kidnappers had contacted the Indian government and the Catholic bishop in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates with their demands, but the response was “not encouraging”.

(Video Source: NewsX)

“My dear family people, do what you can to help me be released. Please, please do what you can to help to get me released. May God bless you for that,” he pleaded.

The authenticity of the recording could not immediately be verified.

SUPRAJA