41 Kuwaitis found buried in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The bodies of 41 Kuwaitis believed killed during the first Gulf War have been unearthed in southern Iraq, one of 295 mass graves containing thousands of Saddam Hussein's victims uncovered in the two years since U.S.-led forces invaded and ousted the dictator, an Iraqi official said yesterday.

The discovery in the city of Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, was another step in documenting what happened to 605 Kuwaitis who have been missing since the 1991 Gulf War. The bodies of only 190 other Kuwaitis have been identified.

Bakhtiar Amin, Iraq's human-rights minister, said some mass graves contained the remains of dozens of people, while other had thousands, with victims including Kuwaitis and minority Kurds, who were systematically killed during Saddam's rule.

Army promotes soldier captured a year ago

WASHINGTON — The only Army soldier listed as missing and captured in Iraq was promoted this month to the rank of sergeant, as Army officials vowed to keep searching for him.

Spc. Keith "Matt" Maupin of Batavia, Ohio, went unaccounted for after his fuel-truck convoy was ambushed April 9, 2004, in a western suburb of Baghdad. The attack killed another member of Maupin's reserve unit, the 724th Transportation Company from Bartonville, Ill., and three U.S. contractors. Another contractor was captured but later escaped.

Militants released a blurry videotape last summer that purportedly showed Maupin, blindfolded, being shot in the back of the head in front of a hole dug in the ground.

Army officials have said that although the video appears to show a U.S. soldier being killed, the victim's identity was unclear and the videotape's validity is questionable. U.S. forces have not recovered a body.

The Army announced Friday that Maupin had been promoted effective April 1.

EU plans conference on rebuilding Iraq

LUXEMBOURG — The European Union said yesterday it plans to host an international conference within the next two months on rebuilding Iraq, picking up an idea EU leaders discussed with President Bush in February.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said the conference would take place in Brussels in either late May or early June.

Asselborn said EU foreign ministers would hold further discussions on the plan at their next meeting April 25, but said the EU was already coordinating the event with the U.S. and other countries.