13 bodies of POWs from Iraq invasion of Kuwait identified

Kuwait City: Kuwait’s head of the Committee for Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing Persons, Rabih Al Adsani, announced they have determined the identity of 13 POWs that went missing during the 1990 Iraq invasion of Kuwait.

Al Adsani said in a statement that the POWs were arrested during the Iraqi invasion and their remains were brought back to Kuwait from Iraq a few months ago.

Once the bodies arrived in Kuwait in September, they underwent genetic analysis and DNA testing by the General Department of Forensic Evidence at the Ministry of Interior.

After their bodies were identified, Al Adsani said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the families of the prisoners, indicating that any information they had should be known to their family as it is their human and legal right.

In September, two burial sites in Iraq were discovered and 21 bodies were returned to Kuwait.

Then in November, seven of the bodies were identified and were laid to rest at the Al Sulaibikhat cemetery.

POWs

Many Kuwaitis remain missing since 1990 and their bodies are slowly being discovered.

Back in September, the Kuwaiti embassy in Baghdad received the remains of 21 people believed to be Kuwaiti citizens who went missing during the invasion.

According to the National Committee of Missing and POWs Affairs (NCMPA), as a result of the invasion there were around 605 people missing. Of those, the bodies of 246 were found and identified.

The committee, established in 1991, has reported that there was one POW for every 1,000 Kuwaitis.