(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) A mission from international police body INTERPOL is heading to the Ukraine on Sunday to assist with identification of the remains of passengers who died on the Malaysian Airlines flight that was seemingly shot down over eastern Ukraine last Thursday, police sources said Saturday.

The INTERPOL mission has been called in to use state-of-the-art victim identification techniques that will be crucial in trying to identify the scattered remains of the 298 passengers and crew from Malaysian flight MH17.

Parts of the plane and its contents are scattered over a wide area of eastern Ukraine which is held by pro-Russian rebels who have so far reacted warily to international missions arriving in the area.

The European police force EUROPOL has been asked to take part in the Ukraine mission and is likely to make a contribution, the source said.