New Delhi: The Indian government said Wednesday that 40 Indian workers stranded in Iraq have been kidnapped.

The external affairs ministry did not say who had seized the workers although earlier media reports blamed it on the Sunni insurgents who have seized key cities in Iraq.

A ministry spokesman said the workers mostly belonged to the country’s northern states such as Punjab and worked for Tariq Noor al Huda company.

He said no ransom call had been received and the Iraq Red Crescent had “indicated to us that they were kidnapped”. He said their current location was not known.