Subject: Three Yugo soldiers have died from leukemia, 10 more ill
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 9:20:15 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2001 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
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BELGRADE, Jan 17 (AFP) - Three Yugoslav army soldiers who served
in Kosovo during the NATO bombing campaign have died from leukemia,
while 10 more suffer from the illness, the weekly Nedeljni Telegraf
reported Wednesday.
The weekly quoted anonymous military sources as saying that
those who died and those afflicted by leukemia had served in units
in Kosovo, near the border with Albania, where NATO is said to have
fired a lot of armor-piercing depleted uranium (DU) munitions.
Four soldiers are in critical condition, the Telegraf said,
citing Belgrade military hospital sources.
The report could not be independently confirmed.
However, Yugoslav army officials said last week that around
1,000 soldiers, thought to have been exposed to DU munitions, have
been cleared by army medical tests as having no symptoms of related
illnesses.
The soldiers were examined after NATO's 11-week air war on
Yugoslavia which ended in June 1999, Colonel Milan Zaric, the head
of the army's anti-biological and chemical defence unit, said at the
time.
No case of radioactive contamination was discovered, he said.