A British soldier in Zubayr, Iraq, stands
by a mural
Saturday at an abondoned Iraqi militay
base where
British military officials say they found
boxes
containing human remains in a warehouse. |
KUWAIT CITY (AP) -- British forces
in southern Iraq have found hundreds of boxes containing human remains
in a warehouse near Zubayr and are investigating how they got there, military
officials said Saturday.
"Obviously, it's an unusual find," said
Maj. Mike Edwards, a British military spokesman in Kuwait City. "Who they
belonged to or how they got there is under investigation."
There was no immediate indication of the
nationalities of the dead, and it appeared they had died some time ago
-- not in the current fighting.
Southern Iraq has been the site of bloody
battles for over the past two decades, with heavy casualties in the 1980
to 1988 Iran-Iraq war; the 1991 Gulf War, and in the Shiite Muslim uprising
that followed the Gulf War.
The estimated 200 coffin-sized boxes "contain
bags, each labeled, and there's human remains inside the bags," said Capt.
Jack Kemp of the Royal Horse Artillery. |