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GV Egyptian trucks carrying bodies SV UN Forces supervising (2 shots)
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SV UN Forces supervising (2 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: On Friday (April 4) Egypt handed over to Israel the bodies of 39 Israeli soldiers killed in the October 1973 war.

The solemn ceremony took place in the buffer zone separating the Egyptian and Israeli armies which is manned by the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).

A convoy of 10 Egyptian army vehicles brought the bodies in grey-coloured wooden coffins to the buffer zone about 10 miles east of the Suez Canal.

Representative of Egyptian land, air and naval forces, as well as an army band, were present to give the dead soldiers full military honours.

Egyptian officers took the salute as the coffins passed them. For the return of the bodies Israel agreed to release 20 Sinai Bedouin prisoners and transfer food supplies to the El Arish area of Sinai recently hit by floods.

News of the discovery of the bodies was made by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat last Saturday (29 March). They were found in the Israeli-fortified Barlev line positions along the Suez Canal which Egypt seized during the October War.

The U.N.E.F. Commander, Finnish General Ensio Siilasvuo, said 18 more Israeli soldiers are still believed to be unaccounted for.

After Israeli soldiers had carried the coffins to their lorries General Siilasvuo told newsmen: "This sad and solemn ceremony should be a strong reminder to all of us of the fact that real peace is needed in the area."