Manzoor Ahmed, who worked as a tailor in Kuwait for nearly 30 years, was killed in an Iranian strike at the airport.
New Delhi: An Indian man killed in an Iranian strike at Kuwait airport was coming to his home in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain to attend his niece’s wedding. Manzoor Ahmed, who worked as a tailor in Kuwait for nearly 30 years, was scheduled to board a flight from Kuwait around 7.30 am on Wednesday for Mumbai, from where he was to take a train to his hometown in Ujjain. A day before boarding the flight, he had spoken to his 18-year-old son Anas Ahmed and asked him to come to pick him up from the railway station.
Speaking to reporters, grief-stricken Anas recalled the phone call with his 55-year-old father.
“He said he would come by the Nagda train. ‘Come pick me up,’ he told us,” Anas said.
Unaware that it would be their last conversation, Anas and his family members had prepared to welcome Manzoor, who was returning to India after October last year, with garlands.
On Wednesday afternoon, however, they were told that Manzoor was killed in the drone strike that also left 13 other Indian nationals injured.
Manzoor was returning home to attend his niece’s wedding in neighbouring Ratlam district on June 8, the family said. He is survived by his wife, son, two daughters and aged mother.
“We are devastated. He was the sole breadwinner of the family. Everything happened so suddenly,” his brother-in-law Mohammed Ismail told the news agency PTI.
His body was flown to Ahmedabad airport on Friday, following which his relatives took his remains to Ujjain for last rites by road.
What India Said On Kuwait Airport Attack
India had condemned the attack and strongly urged that the civilian population and civilian infrastructure must not be targeted amid the ongoing war between the US and Iran.
“Since the onset of the conflict in West Asia, we have strongly urged that the civilian population and civilian infrastructure must not be targeted. We again call upon parties to cease such attacks,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Wednesday.
It said the Indian missions and posts across the region are on alert and continue to proactively support our community.
10 Indians Killed In Middle East War
At least 10 Indians have so far been killed in the Middle East war, which broke out on February 28, when the US and Israeli forces attacked Iran, killing 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. In response, Tehran launched strikes on US and Israeli assets in the Gulf countries.
An Indian national was killed in Kuwait in Iranian strikes on a power and water desalination plant in March.
An Indian national died by debris from the interception of a missile in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi in the same month.
A plume of smoke rises from the Zayed Port following a reported Iranian strike in Abu Dhabi on March 1
Photo Credit: AFP
Another Indian national was killed in missile and drone attacks on the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh in March.
Two more Indians died in an attack on an industrial area in Oman on March 13, and three seafarers died in attacks on merchant vessels in the early days of the conflict.
Last month, an Indian sailor was killed and several others injured after their wooden dhow caught fire near the Strait of Hormuz.
