Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh (retired) had left for Mosul in a special plane to bring back the mortal remains of the 39 Indians who were killed in the war-torn country.
General VK Singh traveled to Iraq by Indian Airways’ special plane to escort back the bodies of the innocent Indians who were killed brutally by the militants of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He is expected to reach India with the bodies by late Monday.
He will be travelling to Amritsar to hand over the mortal remains to the families of the deceased. After Amritsar he will be going to Kolkata and then to Patna.
Singh informed he has to hand over 31 coffins in Amritsar which includes 27 of Punjab and four of Himachal. In Kolkata two coffins and in Patna five are to be handed over.
The 39 Indians who worked in a construction company were abducted by the militants of Baghdadi four years ago. Then after mercilessly killing the innocents, they were dumped in the middle of the mountains of Badoush.
Of the 39 Indians killed, 27 were from Punjab, six from Bihar, four from Himachal and two from West Bengal.
External Affairs Minsiter Sushma Swaraj had confirmed the death of the 39 Indians in a statement in Patliament, post which the demands of bringing back the bodies for customary cremation were raised.
“We have had a talk with the state governments that the mortal remains will be sent to the houses of those deceased. They have appointed officers for the purpose to oversee that nobody faces inconvenience of any sort”, said Singh.
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