Indian nurses cross into Iraqi Kurdish region

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi official says more than 40 Indian nurses who were trapped in territory captured by Islamic militants have crossed into Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region and are now under the protection of local security forces.

Nawaz Hadi, the governor of Irbil province in the self-rule Kurdish region, says the nurses arrived at a checkpoint and are being cared for by the Kurdish militia fighters, known as peshmerga.

Hadi says the nurses "are very tired" but will travel to the regional capital of Irbil and fly home later Friday.

The 46 nurses had been stranded for more than a week at a hospital in the Iraqi city of Tikrit, which Sunni militants, including fighters from the Islamic State extremist group, captured last month.

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