Iran, Iraq Exchange Remains of Soldiers Killed in 1980-88 WarIran and Iraq on Thursday exchanged a total of 244 remains of soldiers killed during their 1980-88 war, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.The bodies of 122 Iranian soldiers were returned in exchange for an equal number of bodies of Iraqi soldiers, said an Iranian army commander, Mir-Feisal Baqerzadeh. The bodies were exchanged as a follow-up to the joint search operations to locate the bodies of those killed in the war, Baqerzadeh added. Meanwhile, an Iraqi newspaper has reported that as a fresh gesture, Iraq and Iran have agreed to resume talks on exchanging remains of soldiers killed during the war. The talks are expected to last five days and it will also touch on the repatriation of prisoners of war. The Iran-Iraq war left some 1 million people dead. Each country has accused the other of holding thousands of war-time soldiers since the end of the war. The issue of prisoners of war, among other things, remain the main stumbling block to the normalization of the relations between the neighbors. |
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