Chinese in Iraq are in relatively safe regions

Most of the more than 10,000 Chinese nationals are now in relatively safe and secure regions despite clashes between the Iraqi government troops and advancing Sunni militants, the Chinese ambassador said Monday.

Some 80 percent of the Chinese, many of whom are employees with Chinese firms operating in the violence-hit country, live in the southern provinces, 10 percent in areas around the capital Baghdad, and the remaining 10 percent in the northern Kurdish region, Ambassador Wang Yong told Xinhua.

No Chinese workers are trapped in the northern provinces of Nineveh, Salahudin, Kirkuk, Anbar and Diyala, where the Iraqi forces are fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, he said.

Some 1,200 Chinese workers with the China Machinery Engineering Corp. have been evacuated to Baghdad from the northern Iraqi city of Samarra, the Chinese Embassy said Friday.

Wang thanked the Iraqi government and military for their help and coordination in the massive evacuation of Chinese nationals.

Iraq has seen a worsening security situation since Sunni militants, spearheaded by ISIL, an al-Qaida offshoot, began its offensive in the northern part two weeks ago.

Chinese contractors have been engaged in oil, electricity, telecommunications and infrastructure projects for Iraq's post-war reconstruction.