Friday, July 28 2006 17:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Indian government brought back 408 more people, including those from Sri Lanka and Nepal, from Lebanon early Friday as the evacuation operation from that war-hit country continued.

In the third round of Operation Sukoon launched following Israel's bombings targeting the Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon 304 Indians, 88 Sri Lankans and 16 Nepalis reached Delhi early Friday. The evacuees were brought by a special Air India flight from Larnaca in Cyprus.

According to a senior official in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, 174 of the latest batch of evacuees, hailing from Punjab, were sent by a chartered flight to Amritsar soon after they landed in New Delhi.

The MOIA official said that most of the other passengers were also sent to their respective destinations by road transport and by air.

With Friday's evacuation, the total number of Indians evacuated from Lebanon till now has come to 1,688. At the beginning of the conflict earlier this month, there were about 12,000 Indians in Lebanon, most of whom are contract workers.

The evacuees were first brought by Indian naval ships from the Lebanese capital Beirut to Larnaca in Cyprus and then flown to India.

At least one Indian has been killed and four, including a soldier attached to the UN peacekeeping force, have been injured in Israel's attacks on Lebanon, the fiercest in 24 years.