Efforts continued today to secure the release of the 39 kidnapped Indians in Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq. The government remains in touch with the countries in the region to resolve the crisis after identity of the captors were known. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said all the 39 Indians in captivity are unharmed as of now.

Official sources said the Indian mission in Baghdad has already contacted the company concerned and the matter is likely to be resolved soon. The sources said the companies are responsive and someone from the embassy will go there and sit down with the company and all the employees to decide on this.

Amnesty International says, several hundred Indian nationals may have stranded in the Najaf province of Iraq. It says, they are unable to return home because their employer refuses to return their passports.

Meanwhile, militants have seized an Iraqi crossing on the border with Syria after a daylong battle. Security officials in Baghdad say, they killed some 30 Iraqi troops. The capture of the Qaim border crossing deals a further blow to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

The fall of the border crossing came as al-Maliki faces mounting pressure to form an inclusive government or step aside. Both a top Shiite cleric and the White House strongly hinted he is in part to blame for the worst crisis since US troops withdrew from the country at the end of 2011.

In a show of force, thousands of Shia militia loyal to the powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have paraded through the streets of Baghdad, raising sectarian tensions amid continued fighting in areas of Iraq. The cleric, whose Mehdi Army fought the US in Iraq for years, had called for a military parade across the country.