Mortal remains of 38 Indians killed in Iraq brought back

New Delhi:

The mortal remains of 38 of the 39 Indians killed in Iraq were brought back on Monday by a special aircraft. Minister of State for External Affairs General V K Singh, who left for Iraq on Sunday, accompanied the bodies.

The special Indian Air Force aircraft carrying 38 bodies landed in Amritsar at around 2:30 pm. 

One body could not be brought back for now as the DNA testing had only provided a 70 per cent match. Of the 39 Indians killed, 27 belonged to Punjab. Four were from Himachal Pradesh, six from Bihar and two from West Bengal. 

Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu announced Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the kin of deceased. One member from each of the family would be given a government job in Punjab. Apart from that, Rs 20,000 monthly financial compensation would also continue, he said.

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Earlier on Sunday, Iraq handed over the bodies to the Indian authorities in Baghdad. Indian Ambassador Pradeep Rajpurohit said the bodies had been taken to Baghdad International Airport and would be flown back on a military flight.

On returning, the MoS will travel to Amritsar and Patna to hand over the mortal remains to the respective families of the victims.

Singh saluted the remains at the airport as workers loaded the caskets on the aircraft. He, however, did not declare any action against ISIS that killed the 39 Indians in Mosul but condemned terrorism.

कुछ ज़िम्मेदारियों का बोझ काफी ज्यादा होता है। #RestInPeaceMyFellowIndians pic.twitter.com/7cyKDOySvY

— Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) April 2, 2018

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