Body of one Indian to be brought from Iraq after DNA test: VK Singh

The body of one Indian will be brought back from Iraq as soon as DNA testing is completed, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs General (retired) VK Singh said on Tuesday.

"Only one Raju Yadav's remains are left to be brought back from Iraq. His DNA matched only 70 percent. We had again sent his sample for DNA testing, a few days back. We will bring back his body as soon as testing is completed," he told ANI after returning to Delhi from Bihar, where he handed over the bodies of five people to their families.

On Monday, General Singh brought back the mortal remains of 38 out of 39 Indians, who were killed in Iraq's Mosul. He then traveled to Punjab and Bihar to hand over the mortal remains to the respective families of the victims.

On March 20, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj informed the Rajya Sabha members in the Parliament that the 39 Indian nationals, who went missing in Mosul in 2014, were killed by the terror outfit Islamic State (IS).

Of those killed by the terrorist outfit, 27 belonged to Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh, five from Bihar and two from West Bengal.

General Singh further hit out at the Opposition for politicising the issue and said, "Opposition, particularly Congress, played a negative role. They tried to find fault in everything. It was a very petty act to do politics on a matter related to the poor and the nation."

Following the revelation by EAM Swaraj, the Congress and other Opposition parties accused Centre of delaying the information.