KUWAIT: Mourners carry the coffins of 19 Kuwaiti prisoners of war (POWs) whose remains were recently found in a mass grave in Iraq. - Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat

KUWAIT: Kuwait yesterday held a broad funeral with military protocols for 19 of the faithful martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the flagrant 1990-1991 aggression and occupation of the country. The somber procession and gathering of mourners were led at Al-Sulaibikhat cemetery by Minister of Interior and Acting Minister of Defense Sheikh Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, Minister of Education Dr Ali Al-Mudhaf, Minister of Oil and Higher Education Dr Mohammad Al-Fares, Kuwait Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Khaled Saleh Al-Sabah.

Others include; Interior Undersecretary Major General Sheikh Faisal Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, National Guard Undersecretary Lieut Gen Hashem Al-Rifai, Chairman of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Sheikh Abdullah Ali Al-Salem Al-Sabah, senior military leaders and families of the martyrs. The ministers extended their solace to the martyrs' families, uttering prayers for the souls of the deceased - hailing the prisoners and the missing citizens who sacrificed themselves for Kuwait. Head of the prisoners and missing committee at the Foreign Ministry Rabie Al-Adsani affirmed that the remains of the 19 martyrs had been identified through DNA examinations by the department of criminal evidence.

Names of the latest batch of the martyrs who have been just laid to rest are: Badr Mubarak Hamed Dhiab Al-Brai'see, Saeed Awad Ayed Al-Rashidi, Saud Nayef Jazza' Al-Daihani, Mekhled Jbairan Sharid Al-Daihani, Walid Mekhled Hamed Dhiab Al-Brai'see, Nayef Mehmel Dhaifallah Al-Mutairi, Fawaz Btaihan Dghaim Al-Mutairi, Moussa Sattar Jaber Khalaf Al-Enezi, Nayef Awad Ayed Al-Rashidi, Khaled Duaij Abdullah Khalifa Al-Khaldi, Saad Mansour Mohsen Al-Ajmi, Bader Met'eb Obaid Rashed Al-Mutairi, Fares Abdulrahman Fares Al-Mutairi, Nayef Khalaf Huwaider, Salah Hussein Sayed Al-Enezi, Mohammad Humoud Obaid Sulaiman Al-Hola, Mohammad Abdulatif Abdulaziz Al-Khraz, Fares Mohammad Deham Jahem Al-Enezi and Hussein Ali Jassem Al-Shemmari. - KUNA