IS militants killed 39 Indian hostages, claims Iraq survivor; govt says they're alive

New Delhi: All the 39 Indians held hostage in Iraq by ISIS militants for nearly a year are "alive", External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the families of the victims on Thursday even after Harjit Masih, claimed that chances of their survival were “bleak”.

Harjit Masih (26), reportedly the lone Indian who escaped from the clutches of IS in Iraq, continued to maintain that all the 39 Indians held hostage by the militant group were shot dead.

“I pray and hope that somebody survived like I did. The chances are bleak. It would be a miracle because they all lay in a pool of blood with nobody responding to my calls. Among them, six were from Bihar and two from West Bengal. All the others were Punjabis,” he said.

Meanwhile, Swaraj, who met the families for the seventh time since the abduction of the Indians in June last year from Mosul, reassured the families about the well-being of the nationals on the basis of information received from various sources.

The government was making all sincere efforts for the safe and early release of the Indian workers, she told them. "Earlier we had six sources we told us that the Indians are alive. Now we have two more sources to corroborate the same. Out of these two, one is so solidly reliable that there is no question of not believing. They have very clearly said that all the 39 Indian are alive," Swaraj said after meeting the families of the hostages.