Four Keralites who were "cheated" by job agents and taken to a US military camp in Iraq have managed to reach Kollam after going through a nine-month-long ordeal.

Two brothers among them, Hameed and Shajahan of Velichakkala village near Kollam, while narrating their tale, said they were among 20 Malayalis to escape from the camp near Mosul, Iraq.

They lost track of the others, from other parts of Kerala, after reaching Mumbai last month.

"Memories of those nine months will remain a nightmare all through my life. Sounds of bomb and shell attacks, bad treatment by gun-toting US soldiers and the uncertainty of the future haunted me every moment," Hameed said.

The brothers, like the other Malayalis who ended up in the camp as kitchen assistants, were promised a decent job in Kuwait.

"On reaching Kuwait, we were handed over to another agent. He took us on a long road journey, which came to a halt at a checkpoint. We were then asked to board another bus. Finally we reached a city and from the signboard of the hotel we came to know that it was Iraq. And that was the beginning of the hard days," Shajahan said.