Teheran, July 17: The remains of more than 1,700 soldiers are due to be exchanged between Iran and Iraq next week, an official news agency has reported.
An Iranian army official was quoted as saying yesterday that the remains of 1,200 Iraqi soldiers will be handed over in return for the remains of 570 Iranian soldiers on Sunday at the joint Khosravi border crossing.
Next Sunday's exchange of remains will bring to 48 the number of such exchanges between the two countries since 1991.
The remains of the soldiers were recovered in search operations following the devastating eight-year war between Iran and Iraq in which hundreds of thousands of soldiers were killed on both sides.
While the war ended in 1988 following a United Nations brokered ceasefire, the two neighbouring Moslem states have not yet fully normalized ties, mainly because of unresolved questions about those missing in action.

Bureau Report