ROME (Jan. 31) XINHUA - The head of an Italian association of relatives of people who died in the armed forces said Wednesday that Italian authorities should consider two more cases possibly linked to the use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions.

Falco Accame, a well-known campaigner for soldiers' rights and military reform, said the cases indicated a Lower House inquiry into DU should be extended from Bosnia and Kosovo to the 1991 Gulf War and the 1992-94 Somalia peacekeeping mission, Restore Hope.

Accame identified the DU victims as U.P., a Verona helicopter crew member who died of lung cancer in 1999, six years after a seven-month stint in Somalia, and Vito Moramarco from Bari, a sailor who has been suffering from leukemia ever since he served in the Gulf War.

Also on Wednesday the Italian Ministry of Defense denied Accame's claim that the commission of inquiry had asked for three years to try to establish a link between DU and the soldiers' illnesses.

Italy is investigating eight deaths and around 30 cases of cancer and leukemia among peacekeepers who served in Bosnia and Kosovo.

NATO, which has denied any link between DU and cancer, fired 11, 000 rounds of depleted uranium armor-piercing projectiles in Bosnia, almost three times the number fired in Kosovo.

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