India said on Tuesday that 39 Indians, who were believed to have been kidnapped by ISIS militants in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014, had been confirmed dead after Iraqi authorities found their bodies northwest of the city.
"With full proof I can say these 39 are dead," Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told lawmakers in parliament.
The bodies were recovered from a mound of earth near Badush, a village northwest of Mosul, and DNA tests had confirmed them to be those of the construction workers.
Swaraj said the authorities in Baghdad helped identify the mass grave 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 percent match, Swaraj said.
Most of the workers were from the northern state of Punjab.
"Shattered at the heart-wrenching news ... that the 39 Indians missing in Iraq, most of whom were Punjabis, are dead," Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Twitter.
"My heart goes out to the families who had been living in hope since their reported abduction by ISIS in 2014."
The Indian government had never received any ransom demand or any other direct communication from the kidnappers.
India will send a special plane to bring the bodies home, said Swaraj.
