Nepal youth freed by Iraqi militants says will return to Mideast

A kidnapped man from Nepal freed by Iraqi militants earlier this month after being held hostage said Saturday he would return to the Middle East but not to strife-torn Iraq.
"I will go back to my company in Saudi Arabia but I will never go back to Iraq," said Kawari, who is sole source of income for his family of more than 10 people.
The Muslim man made the comments before heading for his hometown in Dhanusha district in south-eastern Nepal to be join his family.
He did not say when he would return to the Middle East.
Kawari was held hostage for three days by Iraqi militants.
He arrived Friday in Kathmandu where he was greeted at the airport by government officials.
Kawari told reporters he was in the kitchen at the branch office of his company, Saudi Arabia Trading and Contracting Co, in Baghdad when militants attacked in early November.
He was seized with three Iraqis, an American and a Filipino.
"They forced me into their van at gunpoint, blindfolded us and took us to an unknown destination," he said. "I was worried and didn't eat while I was in their custody."
His captors freed Kawari without telling him anything. Two of the Iraqis were also released. The fate of the others is not known.
Kawari's release followed the August 31 murder of 12 Nepalese hostages by militants who accused them of helping US forces in Iraq.
Their slayings triggered a violent backlash against the minority Muslim population in the Hindu mountain kingdom of Nepal.
The deaths of the 12 Nepalese sparked riots in Kathmandu in which a mosque and manpower recruitment agencies were attacked.
Nepal, which is not part of the US-led coalition in Iraq, is one of the world's poorest nations.
The poverty has resulted in an exodus of tens of thousands of young people to low-level and often risky work overseas.
While Nepal has prohibited its citizens from going to Iraq, many still continue to do so, lured by the prospect of high wages.
More than 30 hostages have been killed by their captors in Iraq since a wave of kidnappings erupted in April that has seen over 150 foreigners seized.