COCHIN, India -- Four Indians said yesterday they were held against their will by U.S. troops in Iraq to do menial work in an Army camp amid insurgent attacks.
The U.S. Embassy said it was investigating the report.
Aliyarkunj Faisal, Abdul Aziz Shahjehan, Haniffa Mansool and Hameed Abdul Hafiz said they signed up in August with a recruiting agency to work for a caterer in Kuwait.
When they reached the Kuwait airport, a U.S. soldier ordered them to board a bus that took them to a base near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, they said.
"There were some 20 Indians in the bus. Once we knew that we were inside Iraq, we protested," Faisal said. "But the Americans told us that they had paid a Kuwait agency $1,000 for each man and therefore it was a must that we work for them."
Shahjehan said the camp, which he could not name, often was the target of missile attacks.
"Every time the camp was attacked, we took shelter in a bunker. The fear of seeing so many bomb explosions still haunts me," he said.
Faisal said 16 Indians got together and escaped April 15 by paying $20 to an Iraqi truck driver, who took them to Baghdad. He said the Indian High Commission there helped them return to Bombay.
The U.S. Embassy said it was investigating the report.
Aliyarkunj Faisal, Abdul Aziz Shahjehan, Haniffa Mansool and Hameed Abdul Hafiz said they signed up in August with a recruiting agency to work for a caterer in Kuwait.
When they reached the Kuwait airport, a U.S. soldier ordered them to board a bus that took them to a base near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, they said.
"There were some 20 Indians in the bus. Once we knew that we were inside Iraq, we protested," Faisal said. "But the Americans told us that they had paid a Kuwait agency $1,000 for each man and therefore it was a must that we work for them."
Shahjehan said the camp, which he could not name, often was the target of missile attacks.
"Every time the camp was attacked, we took shelter in a bunker. The fear of seeing so many bomb explosions still haunts me," he said.
Faisal said 16 Indians got together and escaped April 15 by paying $20 to an Iraqi truck driver, who took them to Baghdad. He said the Indian High Commission there helped them return to Bombay.
