New Delhi: Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh left for Iraq on Sunday afternoon to bring back the bodies of the 39 Indians killed by terror outfit Islamic State (IS) in Mosul.According to the official sources, the Minister left for Iraq on-board C-17 Globemaster aircraft of IAF and he will bring back the bodies on Monday.
On returning, he will first go to Amritsar followed by Patna and Kolkata to hand over bodies to their families, the sources said.
On March 20, External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj had said in Parliament here that Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (Retd) VK Singh will go to Iraq to bring back the mortal remains of the 39 Indians killed by terror outfit Islamic State (IS) and the bodies will be also taken to the nearest kin in Pubjab, Himachal, Bihar and West Bengal.
Of the 39 Indians who went missing around June in 2014 - DNA tests conducted has confirmed that samples of 38 people have matched and one person Raju Yadav from Bihar has matched only 70 per cent. These Indians were missing in Mosul nearly three years back.
"Of the 38 Indians, 27 were from Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh, six from Bihar and two from West Bengal," she said. (UNI)