39 Indians kidnapped by Daesh dead: Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi - All of them were construction workers.

India said on Tuesday that 39 Indians, who were kidnapped by Daesh militants in Iraq in 2014, had been confirmed dead after their bodies were found and DNA samples matched.
The bodies were recovered from a mound in Badush, in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which was freed from Daesh last July. DNA tests had confirmed the bodies to be those of the construction workers who went missing from Mosul, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said.
"With full proof I can say these 39 are dead," Swaraj told parliament. The government had for years said it would only declare the men dead once it had full evidence.
Swaraj said authorities in Baghdad helped identify the mound in Badush, about 420km from the capital Baghdad, and with the help of deep penetration radar, the buried bodies were discovered and exhumed. DNA testing provided matches for 38 of the missing men while one was a 70 per cent match, Swaraj said, as his parents were both dead and the DNA sample of next of kin was provided.
"We recovered ID cards, long hair, kada and some non-Iraqi footwear," Swaraj said.

• India