LISBON, Dec 29, 2000 -- (Reuters) Portugal has ordered medical tests for its soldiers serving in Kosovo to check for radiation from depleted uranium ammunition used in NATO's 1999 campaign in the Yugoslav province, a press report said on Friday.

Diario de Noticias said a total of 900 Portuguese soldiers had served in Kosovo as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force which has occupied the region since dislodging Yugoslav troops who had oppressed ethnic Albanian inhabitants.

"Defense Minister Castro Caldas has given way to political pressure and is following steps taken by his counterparts in Belgium and Spain," the paper said. Defense Ministry officials were not available for comment.

Publico newspaper meanwhile reported that the father of a Portuguese corporal, who died after serving from Kosovo, had ordered his son's body to be exhumed and tested for radiation.

"It was depleted uranium that killed him," said Luis Paulino, whose son Hugo Paulino died in March, three weeks after returning to Lisbon.

Luis Paulino said he wanted a new autopsy because Defense Ministry officials had yet to clearly explain the cause of his son's death.

"The doctors should be appointed by Yugoslav specialists, because they have better knowledge of the sickness and the problems faced on the ground," he said.