Iraq and Iran exchange bodies of POWs who died during war

IRAQ and Iran yesterday exchanged the remains of 1,736 soldiers who were captured during the 1980-1988 war and died in captivity, a further step toward normalising relations between the two neighbours.

Iraq handed over the remains of 570 Iranians, and Iran delivered the bodies of 1,166 Iraqi soldiers at the al-Mundhariya border crossing, 100 miles north-east of Baghdad. The ceremony was attended by officials from the ruling Iraqi Baath party and the families of dead prisoners.

Following a similar exchange last week, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said that with yesterday’s repatriation, it was closing the file on the Iranian prisoners who died in its captivity.