Chechen president: more than 100 Russians in Baghdad prison

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) More than 100 Russians, including a large number of children, are locked up in a prison in the Iraqi capital, Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday.

“A large number of Russian citizens- women and children- have been located and identified,” Itar Tass agency quoted him saying on instagram.

Those include 25 women and 79 children, according to Kadyrov. They had previously been concentrated inside a camp in Mosul before they were transferred to a women’s ward of a Baghdad prison.

“From Chechnya, there is only one family, the rest from various regions (of Russia), including handicappeds,” Kadyrov said, adding that the Russian citizens will be returned home in coordination with the Russian foreign and defense ministries.

“We have contacted the Iraqi authorities’ representatives immediately,” said Kadyrov.

In July, Iraq’s social affairs ministry said it had referred a group of Chechen children to orphanages in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Iraqi forces said in September they were holding nearly 1,400 family members of Islamic State fighters who had turned themselves in with Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Some local officials were quoted saying they were planning to deport the families of foreign militants to their home countries.