Iran- Iraq exchange remains of 128 soldiers

Iraq and Iran yesterday exchanged, under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross the remains of 128 soldiers killed during the Iraqi- Iranian war which lasted between 1980- 1988.

The Iranian official news agency quoted the chairman of the Iranian committee in charge of searching for missing in the war, Faisal Baqer Zada, his assertion that the remains of 45 Iranians and 83 Iraqis were exchanged at the Iraqi town of al-Shalamja, on the Iraqi borders.

This, however, is considered the first exchange of soldiers remains between the two countries since the attack launched by the US against Iraq on March 20, after the two countries had exchanged prisoners and remains of soldiers just one day before the beginning of the war.

Despite the end of the Iraqi- Iranian war in which hundreds thousands of soldiers from both sides were killed,the fate of fighters who were registered as missing in the operation is still controversial between the two countries.