Iraq, Iran swap +100 bodies of 1980s war dead

Shafaq News/ Iraq and Iran on Thursday exchanged the remains of more than 100 soldiers killed in their 1980-88 war, which claimed the lives of one million people.

The bodies of 98 Iranians and three Iraqis were handed over at the border crossing point of Shalamcheh in southern Iraq, while military bands played national anthems.

All but one coffin, containing the remains of Iraqi pilot Mustafa Ahmad, were unidentified, the human rights directorate at the Iraqi defense ministry said on its part of the swap.

The statement said that the 63 of the 98 coffins the Iranian side received were also identified.

In 2008, Iraq and Iran signed an agreement, under the ICRC auspices, regarding the exchange of information and the handing over of the remains of missing persons during the war.