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1,200 Chinese Evacuated From Iraq


More than 1,200 Chinese workers have been evacuated from northern Iraq.

Chinese media said the employees had been trapped in the embattled city of Samarra.

The official Xinhua news agency says the Chinese arrived safely at a Baghdad hotel, with the Iraqi military providing security.

Xinhua said that China Machinery Engineering Corporation employed the workers at a power plant construction site in Samarra, near where security forces are battling militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The report didn't not say who exactly had evacuated the workers but said 45 were transported by helicopter on June 25, with the rest arriving in two separate groups by bus over the next two days.

More than 10,000 Chinese are in Iraq, many of them employees with Chinese firms.

Based on reporting by AP

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