Depleted Uranium Missiles Found In Serbia

December 12, 2006 6:09 a.m. EST

Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Correspondent

Belgrade, Serbia (AHN) - Representatives from the directorate for the protection of the environment in Serbia has said that a total of 161 depleted uranium missiles have been recovered in the southern part of the country in the past weeks.

The states Beta news agency said the missiles were found in Reljan near Preservo after the 1999 NATO bombing campaign.

It was said that during the 78-day air strikes in the former Yugoslavia in 1991, NATO war planes dropped 31,000 missiles and bombs believed to contain depleted uranium, a kind of radioactive toxic material that has been linked to Gulf War syndrome and spiraling levels of cancer and birth defects in Iraq.

NATO has admitted 112 sites in Kosovo where it used depleted uranium. But it has not given Belgrade a complete list for the rest of Serbia.

Belgrade ordered a clean up operation in Reljan on October 1 and some 6.5 out of 12 hectares of contaminated grounds have been searched and cleared. A total of 2.4 cubic meters of contaminated soil has also been collected and removed.

Serbia has spent an estimated $450,000 for the clean up operation in the Reljan site.