Grief as 39 Indians abducted by ISIS in Iraq found to have been killed

Thirty-nine Indians kidnapped by the Islamic State in Iraq's Mosul in 2014 are dead, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Their bodies were spotted using deep penetration radar, said Swaraj, adding the bodies were exhumed from mass graves and their identities confirmed by DNA tests. "The DNA of 38 Indians have been matched," she said.

All of them were construction workers, mostly from Punjab, and were employed by an Iraqi company in Mosul.

They were taken hostage by Islamic State militants when they took control of the second largest city in Iraq in 2014. The workers were trying to leave Mosul when they were held hostage.

Reaction from families and political circles flooded on twitter:

*Developing story. Will be updated

With IANS inputs.