Bodies of missing Kuwaitis found

Mass graves: Yielding valuable information

The Iraqi National Congress (INC) said tests had confirmed the bodies discovered in al-Habbaniyah near Baghdad were Kuwaiti prisoners of war. Many of them were on the list of 600 Kuwaitis missing  after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of its neighbour.

   

“The Iraqi National Congress believes it has located the mass grave of 600 Kuwaiti prisoners of war,” the statement said.

   

A group from the INC went on Friday morning to examine the site and found 40 bodies. Many more remain to be unearthed. One among the group said some of the bodies were tied by ropes and there were traces of bullets on many skulls.

 

Reward for information

 

 Kuwait last month offered a one-million-dollar reward to anyone who provided the emirate with “authentic” information on the fate of more than 600 people missing since the seven-month Iraqi occupation of Kuwait was brought to an end.

Shocking discoveries

  

Kuwait says 605 people disappeared during the occupation and believes many were kept in Iraqi jails.

  

Apart from Kuwaiti nationals, the 605 missing or taken prisoners included 14 Saudis, five Egyptians, five Iranians, four Syrians, three Lebanese, one Bahraini, one Omani and one Indian, according to Kuwaiti authorities.

  

Saddam’s regime said there had been prisoners, but that it had lost track of them during an uprising by Shia Muslims in southern Iraq.

 

 Several mass graves have been discovered across Iraq after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein.