The remains of a Swiss missionary taken hostage and killed by Islamists in Mali have been identified and will be returned to her family, the Swiss foreign ministry said Wednesday. Beatrice Stockli, a missionary from Basel working in Timbuktu, was kidnapped in 2016 by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM, an Al-Qaeda affiliate) -- having already been abducted by jihadists once before in 2012. In October last year, it was announced that she had been killed. Bamako recently informed Bern that the presumed remains of Stockli had been handed over to them. DNA samples were sent the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the University of Zurich, which confirmed the samples matched those of Stockli. "Sadly, we now have definitive evidence that the woman who was held hostage is dead," said Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis. "But I am also relieved that we can return the woman's remains to her family and I would like to pass on my deepest condolences to them." Her body will be repatriated to Switzerland "as soon as possible", the foreign ministry said. rjm/nl/pma