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27 Nepali migrant workers killed in terrorist attacks in 15 years

Ramesh Bharati

September 6, 2019

3 MIN READ

27 Nepali migrant workers killed in terrorist attacks in 15 years

KATHMANDU: As many as 27 Nepali migrant workers have lost their lives in terrorist attacks in the last 15 years in different war-ravaged countries.

Those countries include Afghanistan, Libya, and Iraq.

The government has banned Nepali workers to fly to Iraq and Libya – both war-ravaged countries. However, in Afghanistan, Nepali workers have given permission to work in the ‘green zone’ as security guards.

Two more Nepalis killed in Afghanistan

Two Nepali workers were among those killed in Monday’s terrorist explosion in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The deceased have been identified as Krishna Thapa of Chitwan and Chandra Pun of Rolpa.

The terrorists were attempting to storm the Green Village compound — an area occupied by international NGOs, where the deceased Nepalis were working as security guards, embassy sources have said. Taliban has claimed the attack.

There years ago, some 12 Nepali workers lost their lives when the Taliban attacked a bus carrying a minibus in Kabul of Afghanistan.

A total of 14 Nepali workers have lost their lives in the last three years in terrorist attacks.

Similarly, a Nepali migrant worker, Santosh Shrestha, who had reached Libya through an illegal channel, was killed in a terrorist attack at the Tripoli-based detention center in July this year, according to the Egypt-based Nepali Embassy.

Despite the Nepal government’s ban on Nepali workers to work in Libya, Nepali youths have been reaching the war-torn country through the illegal channel. Earlier, in 2004, 12 Nepali workers were taken a hostage and brutally murdered by Ansar al-Sunna terrorists in Iraq.

Nepalis reach Iraq and Libya through illegal channel

A substantial number of Nepali workers have reached Iraq and Libya through the illegal channel, mostly via India, despite the government’s ban.

Similarly, a significant number of Nepali youths are said to have reached Afghanistan via UAE. They are basically employed as security guards in Afghanistan, according to Bharat Raj Poudel, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

“The government has been endeavoring to check Nepali youths from going to such countries through an illegal channel,” he said, adding, “Moreover, the government has banned Nepali youths from flying to the war-ravaged countries.”

Poudel said youths going to such countries through illegal channels has been a problem to the government.

According to government estimates, around 50 thousand Nepali youths could be probably working in Iraq alone.

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