39 Indians killed in Iraq: DNA test confirms identity of the final body

VK Singh had previously said that the body of one Indian will be brought back from Iraq as soon as DNA testing is completed.

File image of the relatives of the missing Indians/ AFP

NEW DELHI: The DNA match of the one remaining Indian body was confirmed after DNA testing was completed on Friday. At present, the Indian Embassy in Iraq is arranging to send his last remains through an aircraft. Raju Yadav who was a resident of Bihar was the only Indian whose DNA matching was still awaited as he did not have parents and samples of his close relatives were sent across which matched 70 percent 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). To the next of the kin of 39 Indians who were killed in Iraq, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh. Of those killed by the terrorist outfit, 27 belonged to Punjab, four from Himachal Pradesh, five from Bihar and two from West Bengal. Due to not getting the DNA test confirmation, the remains of Raju Yadav could not be brought back to India at that time.