India says its 39 nationals missing in Iraq not killed

NEW DELHI - India Friday said that its 39 nationals missing in Iraq since June this year were not killed by Islamic State militants.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that "there is no evidence to support media reports that the missing Indians have been killed".

"We are not trusting these reports, we continue to make every effort to locate the Indians and bring them back safely," the minister told the Indian Parliament.

Some 40 Indians, who worked with a construction company, were kidnapped in Iraq's second largest city of Mosul after it fell to the Islamic State in June.

However, later one of them managed to escape.