Eighteen Kuwaitis held since the 1991 Gulf War have been found in an underground shelter in Baghdad.
Abu Dhabi satellite television reported today that the men were found near a military tribunal in the Al-Khadra district of Baghdad.
Kuwait says 605 people disappeared during Baghdad's occupation of the emirate in 1990-1991 and believes many were kept in Iraqi jails. The emirate offered a reward to anyone who helps determine the fate of the missing people.
Apart from Kuwaiti nationals, the 605 people missing or taken prisoner include 14 Saudis, five Egyptians, five Iranians, four Syrians, three Lebanese, one Bahraini, one Omani and one Indian, according to Kuwaiti authorities.
Saddam's regime admitted there had been prisoners, but that it lost track of them during an uprising by Shiite Muslims in southern Iraq following its retreat from Kuwait.
The ousted Baghdad regime had also claimed 1,142 of its nationals had been missing since the Gulf War.
AFP