NO AMMUNITION WITH DEPLETED URANIUM USED AT SLUNJ TESTING GROUND

ZAGREB, Jan 11 (Hina) - The latest probes and measuring on the ground in Slunj show indisputably that there has been no increase above normal radiation in the town some 70 kilometres south of Zagreb on a testing site where Croatian and US troops recently carried out a joint military exercise, read a statement issued by the Croatian Defence Ministry on Thursday. According to the statement, during the joint manoeuvre, units used live ammunition, but the fired rockets had no depleted uranium. While making a contract prior to the exercise, the Croatian Armed Forces General Staff insisted on banning the use of shells and rockets with depleted uranium. Although it has been absolutely confident that Americans have respected those provisions of the agreement, which they also confirmed in a statement, the General Staff has ordered the inspection of the soil and the remnants of the used ammunition. According to the ministry's statement, the examination of samples of soil and ammunition from five locations has been done for the purpose of providing the public with correct and objective information. The results of the measuring, conducted with a US radiological detector AN/VDR - 2, which has also been used in Kosovo, show that there is no rise in radiation in the Slunj area. This examination has been done in view of recent media speculations about a so-called Balkan Syndrome, a term coined since several international peacekeepers developed leukaemia and died after serving in areas of the former Yugoslavia where NATO-led peacekeepers fired shells with depleted uranium. As Croatian and US troops conducted the Slunj joint exercise with live ammunition, part of the Croatian media has been suspicious that rockets with depleted uranium might have been used. The ministry issued this statement to remove such suspicions. (hina) ms