Head of Ilam governorate court, Mohammed Parani said Thursday that 183 Iranians have died after entering Iraq, illegally to visit holy sites since the fall of Saddam Hussein last April.
Iran's Official News Agency (IRNA) quoted the official as saying "the Iranian authorities received the bodies of 183 Iranians who died in Iraq during the past four months with only 175 remains delivered to their families while the others remain unidentified."
According to IRNA, he added that the cause of deaths was due to increasing heat in Iraq and mine fields left from the Iranian-Iraqi war. Iran had warned its citizens not to cross the borders with Iraq and stopped 9,000 Iranians from entering Iraq last week.
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
