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DNA Test Identifies Saudi Pilot Missing in Gulf War in Iraq
The Saudi Defense and Aviation Ministry on Friday confirmed that a DNA test had found the identity of a Saudi pilot missing during the 1991 Gulf war in Iraq.
A ministry statement quoted the official KUNA news agency as identifying the pilot as Wing Commander Mohammad Saleh Nadherah, whose warplane was shot down during the war.
The fate of the pilot had remained unknown until Iraq handed over his remains to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which later delivered the remains to the Saudi government, the statement said.
Saudi Arabia had accused the Iraqi government of holding the body of the pilot while seeking help from the international community to bring it back.
The Iraqi-Saudi relations have remained cool since the 1991 Gulf war, which was touched off by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
Saudi Arabia sent some of its airmen to join U.S.-led allied forces in bombing Iraqi targets during the war.
The kingdom, along with Kuwait, allows the U.S. and British warplanes to use its bases to enforce the so-called two no-fly zones in southern and northern Iraq, imposed by the Western allies after the war.
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