BRUSSELS, Jan 12, 2001 -- (Reuters) Up to 10 former peacekeepers from Belgium plan to file a complaint seeking a judicial investigation into links between their illnesses and their service in the Balkans, a lawyer for the group said on Thursday.

Lawyer Pierre Chome said the soldiers were suffering from chronic fatigue, headaches, loss of memory and skin problems.

The next of kin of several soldiers who have died of cancer after returning from the Balkans also plan to sign the complaint, he said.

Chome said the complaint, to be filed in the Brussels Court of the First Instance next week, would request the appointment of an investigating judge.

The complaint will also charge unknown parties with crimes ranging from involuntary manslaughter to absence of assistance to persons in distress, he said.

The deaths of some former Balkans peacekeepers and dozens more cases of unexplained illnesses have raised suspicions about links to the use of armor-penetrating depleted uranium (DU) used to tip missiles, shells and bullets.

"We are absolutely not convinced that depleted uranium is the only cause," Chome told reporters after meeting with Belgium's largest trade union for military personnel.

Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut last week called for European Union defense ministers to discuss health problems suffered by peacekeepers in the former Yugoslavia, dubbed the "Balkans Syndrome".

Britain, along with NATO and the United States, insists there is no evidence of a link between the use of DU weapons and cases of leukemia in troops who have served in the Balkans.

Top UN environmental officials, meanwhile, have called for rigorous checks for possible health risks at war sites not only in Kosovo, target of intense NATO air attacks in 1999, but also in Bosnia. NATO agreed on Wednesday to look into the effects of the so-called "Balkans Syndrome".

Chome said an investigating judge could send a special mission to the Balkans, appoint medical experts or even visit the region himself as part of a probe, Chome said.

Chome admitted the case could take years.

"We don't have any choice," he said. "The alternative is to do nothing," he added.