Iran, Iraq Finish POWs Exchanges Ahead of US-led Attack on Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Iran, Iraq Finish POWs Exchanges Ahead of US-led Attack on Iraq

On the eve of a US-led war on Iraq, Iran and Iraq have finalized the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs), the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

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On the eve of a US-led war on Iraq, Iran and Iraq have finalized the exchange of prisoners of war (POWs), the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

The exchanges of remaining POWs were conducted in the past two days in the Iranian western border town Khosravi of Kermanshah province, the report said.

Head of the Iranian POWs Commission Abdollah Najafi said that 351 Iranian prisoners held in Iraqi prisons were released in three stages.

Meanwhile, 888 Iraqi POWs have also been released by Iran under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross in three stages, he added.

A group of civilians, several pilgrims to holy sites in Iraq anda number of police and military staff were among the Iranian prisoners released by Iraq, he said.

The exchanges came 15 years after the end of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

"With this exchange, there will be no more Iraqi prisoners in Iran," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said on Tuesday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said last year thatit had overseen the release of 95,000 Iraqi and Iranian prisoners of war.

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