Rome (Jan. 18) XINHUA - Eight veterans of Italian peacekeeping operations in the Balkans have now died, Italian Defense Minister Sergio Mattarella reported Thursday.

The soldiers died of a range of illnesses and scientists were still trying to establish whether there was a link between their deaths and exposure to depleted uranium (DU) munitions used in the region, he said.

The number of deaths from cancer and other ailments tentatively linked to a so-called Balkan syndrome was one higher than in Mattarella's last report to parliament on the issue several days ago.

The minister also announced that Italy would ask the United Nations, which is already measuring DU contamination in Kosovo, to launch a similar investigation in Bosnia.

During the 1999 Kosovo war, U.S. planes were reported to have fired about 31,000 rounds of depleted uranium ammunition at Serbian targets while in 1994-1995, U.S. bombers fired an estimated 10,800 rounds of the same type of ammunition in Bosnia.

According to detailed maps supplied by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) of areas where DU munitions were used, an investigation in Bosnia by Italy and other countries would now continue in greater detail, Mattarella said.

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