Picture Courtesy : Oneindia
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj while speaking in Rajya Sabha informed the members of the tragic news from Iraq. She confirmed that All the 39 Indians who were kidnapped in Iraq in June 2014 have been killed .
The bodies were exhumed from a mount in Badoosh in Iraq. It is said that the dreaded terror outfit ISIS is responsible for the killings
She further stated : Mortal remains were sent to Baghdad. For verification of bodies, DNA samples of relatives were sent there, four state governments, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar were involved.
Yesterday we got information that DNA samples of 38 people have matched and DNA of the 39th person has matched 70%, said Swaraj .
According to media reports, It is learnt that Minister of state for external affairs, General VK Singh, will go to Iraq to bring back mortal remains of the Indians killed in Iraq.
In July last year, Swaraj had firmly said in the Parliament that she would not declare the 39 Indians dead without concrete proof or evidence.
“It is a sin to declare a person dead without concrete evidence. I will not do this sin,” Swaraj said in a statement in the Lok Sabha in 2017.
Soon after the kidnapping , India had asked Iraq for help in locating the missing Indians after Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul from IS.
The 39 persons, most of whom hailed from Punjab, were working on projects near Mosul, when they were kidnapped during their evacuation.
