The fate of 39 Indians captured by the Islamic State group when the extremists took over the city of Mosul three years ago is still unknown, Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told news agency the Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

The abducted workers, mostly from northern India, had been employed by an Iraqi construction company. Al-Abadi said the situation was “still under investigation at the moment. I cannot comment any further.” In July, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had told the workers’ relatives that they might be held in a prison in Badush, northwest of Mosul, which Iraqi forces have taken back from IS.

Thousands of Indians worked and lived in Iraq before the terror group swept across the country’s north and west in 2014.