NEW DELHI (AP) — Dozens of Indian nurses who had been stranded in Iraqi territory held by Islamic extremists were greeted with hugs and flowers Saturday as they returned home to southern India aboard a special flight.

The 46 women had been holed up for more than a week in Tikrit, where fighters of the Islamic State group have taken over. The nurses had been moved to a new area under the extremist group’s control, and finally crossed over late Friday into Irbil, in Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region.