UN to aid repatriation of Kosovo Albanian bodies from Serbia

The first group of some 800 bodies exhumed in Serbia proper, and believed to be of Kosovo Albanian missing persons, will be repatriated under United Nations auspices tomorrow.

The transfer has been arranged by the Office on Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in cooperation with the UN Civilian Police's Missing Persons Unit (MPU) and the Serbian authorities.

OMPF said mortal remains were exhumed from the Serbian sites at Petrovo Selo I and II; Batajnica, at seven different locations; and Bajna Basta/Perucac Lake. An UNMIK team, including an Albanian forensic pathologist, was in the Serbian capital of Belgrade today to monitor the transfer of bodies exhumed from Batajnica and identified by DNA.

Currently, 100 to 150 bodies are in the process of being identified through DNA.