Iraq hands over bodies of Kuwaitis who went missing during Gulf War

Iraq hands over bodies of Kuwaitis who went missing during Gulf War
Iraq handed over the bodies of 48 people who went missing following Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait nearly 30 years ago.
2 min read
08 August, 2019
Kuwait received the bodies on Thursday [Getty]

Iraq handed over the remains of 48 Kuwaitis who went missing when Saddam Hussein invaded the country nearly three decades ago, in an event that led to the Gulf War.

Kuwait says hundreds of people went missing during Baghdad's seven-month occupation of the country in 1990 until Iraq was driven out of the country by a US-led military coalition.

The bodies were put in caskets and wrapped in Kuwaiti flags and returned home. 

Kuwaiti authorities at the Safwan border crossing accepted the remains at a ceremony attended by officials from the two neighboring countries.

"The Iraqi government is determined to find all the remaining missing Kuwaitis (in Iraq) and hand them over to the Kuwaiti authorities and consequently to their families," said Maj. Gen. Hazim Qassim, a representative of the Iraqi Defence Ministry.

Kuwait's state news agency said the remains belong to slain Kuwaiti prisoners of war pending forensic examination locally.

The bodies were found in March at a mass grave in the desert west of the city of Samawa south of Baghdad.

Iraq and Kuwait resumed diplomatic relations after former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was ousted from power in 2003 in the US led-invasion of Iraq. 

He was sentenced to death and hanged in 2006 for crimes against humanity.