ADEN/NEW DELHI: India said Tuesday it will “spare no effort” to secure the release of a priest kidnapped in Yemen, after video footage showing him pleading for help was circulated on social media.
Indian priest Thomas Uzhunnalil was abducted during a deadly attack by radical militants on a care home operated by the Missionaries of Charity group in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden in March.
The five-minute video, the provenance of which is unknown, shows him appealing to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pope Francis to secure his freedom.
“My captors have made many contacts with the government of India to get me released. I am very sad that nothing has been done seriously in my regard,” Uzhunnalil said.
In response, India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted that New Deli would “spare no effort to secure Fr (father) Tom’s release from captivity,” but gave no details.
“I have seen the video from Fr Tom. He is an Indian citizen and the life of every Indian is most precious for us,” she said.
Joseph Chinnayyan, the deputy secretary-general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said it was not possible to verify the authenticity of the video.
“Even if it is authentic, whatever he is saying is under duress. We are certain that he is still in captivity and efforts are on to free him,” Chinnayyan said.
The video was posted on social media sites Youtube and Facebook on Monday but it is not clear when it was shot.
In it the 56-year-old priest said his nationality remained the main reason that world leaders remained unsympathetic.
“If I were a European priest, I would have been taken more seriously by authorities and people would have got me released,” he said.
Separately, least 28 Houthi insurgents and 12 Yemeni soldiers were killed Tuesday in the southern province of Shabwa as government forces pushed to capture a rebel enclave, military officials said.
The fighting flared when forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi attacked rebels in Bayhan district, on the border between Shabwa and Marib provinces.
Bayhan is the only part of Shabwa province still controlled by the Iran-backed rebels after government forces supported by the Arab coalition last year expelled them from five southern provinces.
“The death toll of the Houthis has reached 28 while 12 soldiers of the legitimate forces were killed,” a military official said.
Military officials said government forces backed by coalition warplanes drove the rebels out of several positions in the area, adding that 14 insurgents were also captured.
The Yemen conflict has killed some 7,000 people since the Saudi-led intervention in March 2015, according to the United Nations.
Indian priest Thomas Uzhunnalil was abducted during a deadly attack by radical militants on a care home operated by the Missionaries of Charity group in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden in March.
The five-minute video, the provenance of which is unknown, shows him appealing to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pope Francis to secure his freedom.
“My captors have made many contacts with the government of India to get me released. I am very sad that nothing has been done seriously in my regard,” Uzhunnalil said.
In response, India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted that New Deli would “spare no effort to secure Fr (father) Tom’s release from captivity,” but gave no details.
“I have seen the video from Fr Tom. He is an Indian citizen and the life of every Indian is most precious for us,” she said.
Joseph Chinnayyan, the deputy secretary-general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, said it was not possible to verify the authenticity of the video.
“Even if it is authentic, whatever he is saying is under duress. We are certain that he is still in captivity and efforts are on to free him,” Chinnayyan said.
The video was posted on social media sites Youtube and Facebook on Monday but it is not clear when it was shot.
In it the 56-year-old priest said his nationality remained the main reason that world leaders remained unsympathetic.
“If I were a European priest, I would have been taken more seriously by authorities and people would have got me released,” he said.
Separately, least 28 Houthi insurgents and 12 Yemeni soldiers were killed Tuesday in the southern province of Shabwa as government forces pushed to capture a rebel enclave, military officials said.
The fighting flared when forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi attacked rebels in Bayhan district, on the border between Shabwa and Marib provinces.
Bayhan is the only part of Shabwa province still controlled by the Iran-backed rebels after government forces supported by the Arab coalition last year expelled them from five southern provinces.
“The death toll of the Houthis has reached 28 while 12 soldiers of the legitimate forces were killed,” a military official said.
Military officials said government forces backed by coalition warplanes drove the rebels out of several positions in the area, adding that 14 insurgents were also captured.
The Yemen conflict has killed some 7,000 people since the Saudi-led intervention in March 2015, according to the United Nations.
