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Abducted Father Tom Uzhunnalil freed thanks to Omani Foreign Ministry

After a long wait, and lots of prayers, Father Tom Uzhunnalil was on Tuesday released from captivity in Yemen Eighteen months after being captured by the Islamic State terror group.

It was reported that the priest was rescued after the intervention of the Oman foreign ministry. Father Uzhunnalil was abducted in March, 2016, by terrorists who attacked an old-age home run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in southern Yemeni city of Aden. Yemen is in the midst of a violent conflict between Houthi rebels backing former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and forces supporting the present dispensation of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The priest thanked God Almighty and expressed his gratitude to sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said and the Vatican for securing his release. The priest also thanked his brothers and sisters and all relatives and friends. In December 2016, Father Uzhunnalil had appealed to Pope Francis and the Indian government through a purported video to secure his release from his captors. The Kerala Assembly, in May, passed a resolution in order to step up pressure on the Centre to ensure the release of the abducted priest.

The freed priest will not be returning to India, even though he has landed in Oman. He will
first undertake a trip to Europe to recover some of his health. 

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