The 39 Indians reported missing in Iraq since June 2014 are dead, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj informed Parliament on Tuesday, triggering a storm of protests.
The Indians had been abducted by the Islamic State in Iraq nearly four years ago. The minister said DNA samples collected from relatives of the missing had matched all but one of the remains found in a mass grave in near Mosul in northern Iraq. One body had a 70 percent DNA match and one Indian prisoner escaped.
