TEHRAN - In a solemn ceremony at the Mehran-Zarbatieh border crossing near the western city of Ilam, bodies of 47 martyrs were delivered to Iranian officials yesterday, an IRNA Farsi Service dispatch from Ilam reported yesterday. The head of the Missing-in-Action Committee Brigadier General Seyed Mir Feisal Baqerzadeh, in brief remarks during the ceremony said, "This transfer back to Iran of these martyrs is a result of and in accordance with joint operations between Iran and Iraq to locate the war dead."

"Therefore, in this exchange -- the 48th thus far -- in response to Iraq returning these 47 martyrs, we delivered 131 bodies to Iraqi officials," Baqerzadeh explained. "Bodies of 40 of these martyrs were discovered at the Meymak, Helaleh, and Neyhasr regions, and are the result of extensive and painstaking search by the search group of the Karbala 25 Division of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps. Another 8 are bodies of soldiers martyred at various Iraqi prison camps."

Also, elaborating on the Iraqi war dead delivered by Iran to Iraqi officials yesterday, Baqerzadeh said that 126 were discovered from former battle zones, and another five are bodies of Iraqi prisoners of war who had died in Iran.

At the ceremony welcoming the bodies of Iranian martyrs, a large number of martyrs' families, some residents of Mehran border town, a number of clerics, military and police officials were present.

A formal funeral procession for the martyrs is scheduled in Ilam today.