Mortal remains of Indians killed in Iraq not coming back today: Sources

The mortal remains of 39 Indians killed in Iraq's Mosul will not be coming back to India on Wednesday, the sources have said.

"Mortal remains of Indians killed in Mosul are not coming back to India today. We will share as and when details are worked out," the sources said while debunking speculations on the social media that the mortal remains of the people killed by the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul would be arriving today.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday announced in the Rajya Sabha that all the 39 Indians, who went missing in Mosul in the year 2014, were killed by the IS.

Following Swaraj's Rajya Sabha address, some of the families expressed anguish that till now Swaraj continued to assure them that the captured Indians were alive.

The EAM informed that out of the deceased, 27 people were from Punjab, six from Bihar, four from Himachal Pradesh and two from West Bengal, "The identity of one of them is yet to be verified."

Sushma Swaraj also said that Minister of State (MoS) External Affairs General V.K. Singh will go to Mosul in Iraq to bring back the mortal remains of the 39 Indian nationals killed there.

The 39 persons, most of whom hailed from Punjab, were working on projects near Mosul when they were kidnapped during their evacuation.