NATO: BOMBS CONTAINING DEPLETED URANIUM WERE NOT DUMPED IN ADRIATIC

ZAGREB/MONS, Jan 8 (Hina) - The Adriatic Sea has been cleared of the bombs dumped by NATO aircraft during strikes on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and the bombs did not contain depleted uranium, a source in the office of NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) told Hina Monday. The Adriatic has been cleared of the bombs dumped by NATO aircraft after the return from strikes on Yugoslavia in April and May 1999, the source in the SHAPE, who wished to remain anonymous, told Hina. The bombs which were dumped in the Adriatic did not contain depleted uranium, the same source stressed. Croatian Assistant Foreign Minister Josko Paro confirmed information previously published in newspapers saying the Croatian government would on Tuesday, through the Croatian mission with NATO, demand an official statement on whether the bombs dumped in the Adriatic contained depleted uranium. The Italian government has already received confirmation that the bombs dumped in the Adriatic did not contain depleted uranium. The jets dumped 100 bombs in the Adriatic due to the danger that those which hadn't been used during the strikes might go off during the landing. The bombs were unloaded in nine zones covering a total of 1,040 nautical miles, located in the international waters of the Adriatic, the source reported. In the first stage of a bomb-removal operation in the Adriatic, called the Allied Harvest, conducted between June 9 and August 24, 1999, 93 projectiles were removed from the sea bottom, the source in the SHAPE told Hina. During the second stage of the operation, conducted between April 5 and 30, 2000, initiated on the request of the Italian government in the waters east of Ravenna, not a single NATO bomb was found. The only bomb discovered during the operation dated from World War Two, therefore the Adriatic is considered cleared of bombs, the same source concluded. (hina) it