Iran and Iraq exchange bodies of soldiers killed in war (Feb 2010)

[Afshin]

BBC - Iraq and Iran have exchanged bodies of soldiers killed in the eight-year war between the two countries.

Iran handed over the remains of nine Iraqi soldiers, after Iraq gave the bodies of seven soldiers to Iran on Tuesday, according to reports.

It is the second such exchange of soldiers' remains since Saddam Hussein was ousted from power in 2003.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of soldiers are still missing from the war, which ended in 1988.

Last year the countries signed an agreement to search for missing soldiers.

Still searching

Around a million people were killed in the war, with thousands of prisoners captured on both sides.

Iran's official reports suggest at least 8,000 Iranians are unaccounted for. Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights says the Iraqi figure ranges from 375,000 to one million.

In total, the International Committee of the Red Cross says it has helped repatriate some 97,000 prisoners of war (POWs) since the end of the war.

Twenty years after the end of the war, families on both sides continue to search for records of their loved ones in hospitals, morgues and police stations.