DHAKA: “The rebels are heading towards to Baghdad from the Northern Iraq, fighting is underway between the rebels and the government forces at Karbala, some 25 to 30 kilometer distance from Baghdad.”

“We are staying at the South from Baghdad, security is inadequate here, and horror has gripped all of us.”

Lalon, who works at Bismiah New Housing Project (BNHP) in Iraq, described the horrific condition of some 5,000 Bangladeshi people, who are working in the war-torn country, to banglanews in this way over mobile phone.

Earlier, Mohammad Abdullah, the project manger, informed banglanews24.com about their miseries by an email. Following the email, banglanews tried to contact to the trapped Bangladeshi over phone there and reached Lalon at 4:30am Friday.

Worried Lalon said, “Around five or six hindered Korean nationals worked with us, their embassy remains alert and their government would protect them from any worse situation: while neither our embassy nor the government is looking into us, we feel ourselves very helpless here.”

The trapped Bangladeshi sought help from Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina to protect them, requesting other workers not to come to Iraq at that time.

A good number of workers are scheduled to leave for Iraq on June 15 under supervision of four requiting agencies--Unique Eastern, Carrier Overseas, Raj Overseas and Manage Power.

Led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), the insurgents are believed to be planning to push further south to the capital, Baghdad, and regions dominated by Iraq's Shia Muslim majority, whom they regard as "infidels".

BDST: 1137 HRS, JUN 13, 2014