After claiming for nearly four years that the 39 Indians kidnapped by the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Iraq were alive, the Indian government on Tuesday confirmed they had been killed and their bodies were found in a mass grave.
India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told the country’s parliament that the dead had been identified by matching DNA.
“I am saying this with a heavy heart that all those people who were abducted have been killed,” Ms Swaraj said.
The minister said the bodies were found in a mass grave near Mosul in northern Iraq.
Ms Swaraj had earlier refused to accept the claim of a man who was among the kidnapped Indian construction workers and managed to escape from the ISIS captivity- that all those held captive had been executed.
“Today I have come to fulfil that commitment. ... I had said that closure will be done with full proof,” said Ms Swaraj claiming she earlier declined to declare them dead in the absence of any credible evidence.
Harjit Masih – the man who escaped from ISIS captivity and returned to India in May 2015 claimed that he witnessed all of his co-workers being shot dead.
He said the workers were captured by the Islamic State and held captive for several days before one day killing them all.
“They were killed in front of my eyes,” he repeated on Tuesday.
Masih was shot in the thigh but managed to escape to Irbil and contacted the Indian officials. He remained at the Indian mission for months before returning to India in May 2015.
Ms Swaraj at that time had said some official sources had indicated the men could still be alive.
After Ms Swaraj’s statement in the Indian parliament’s upper house on Tuesday, members of the opposition accused the government of giving false hope to the families and misleading the country.
Ms Swaraj said the DNA of 38 victims had matched the remains found underneath a mound, one of many in and around Mosul and Badush after their liberation from ISIS. One body was a 70 per cent match.
"We used a deep penetration satellite. It had exactly 39 bodies with distinctive features like long hair, Sikh kadas, non-Iraqi shoes and IDs," Ms Swaraj said.
She said junior minister VK Singh will fly to Iraq to bring back the bodies to India.
