The bodies of 38 Indian construction workers kidnapped and murdered in Iraq by the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) returned home on Monday (April 2nd) four years after their disappearance, AFP reported.

Grieving families -- who were told for years by government officials that their loved ones were still alive -- waited at an airport in the north-west state of Punjab to receive the coffins from Baghdad.

The victims were mostly from poor families in Punjab and were employed by a construction company in Mosul when they were abducted by extremists.

India's foreign minister told parliament last month that 39 bodies were unearthed from a mass grave in Badush, a village north-west of Mosul.

DNA testing confirmed the identity of 38 of the corpses. One test was a partial match, with further examination needed, India's junior foreign minister said Monday.

The Indians were kidnapped in June 2014 as ISIS overran large swathes of territory in Iraq, including the major northern city of Mosul.

It is not known when the Indians were killed.