MISSING SOLDIERS' FAMILIES REQUEST MORE EFFICIENT IDENTIFICATION

ZAGREB, Feb 16 (Hina) - The alliance of Croatian associations of families of detained and missing Croatian soldiers on Tuesday requested the government to urge a more efficient identification of exhumed victims of the Serbian aggression on Croatia. Members of the families on Tuesday met with government officials in Zagreb and suggested the government should increase the number of pathologists being trained in DNA identification. They also suggested the centre for expert opinions in crime at the Croatian Interior Ministry join the identification process, given that the centre is professionally and technically equipped for that purpose. The president of the Government's Commission for Detained and Missing Persons, Ivan Grujic, told representatives of the families that on average, the fate or identity of one missing person was determined per day. Croatia is still tracing 1,778 persons gone missing during the Homeland War, Grujic said. Out of 2,860 bodies exhumed from mass graves, 2,224 have been identified, and the identity of another 56 persons has been preliminarily established. Grujic denied that exhumations in other parts of Croatia were being neglected on account of exhumations in the Croatian Danube River region. He announced new exhumations in Banovina, a region south-east of Zagreb, as soon as weather conditions improved. (hina) it/ha jn