The chief prosecutor of the international war crimes tribunal has said she could not rule out an investigation into Nato's use of depleted uranium as a possible war crime.
"We'll wait for the result of the numerous inquests" by various Nato nations, Carla del Ponte said in an interview shown on Italian state TV today.
She said that "if we have sufficient elements we will be obliged to investigate" if the use of the heavy metal in the Balkans conflicts constituted a war crime.
In another interview, published by Corriere della Seratoday, the Swiss-born magistrate said the tribunal had already looked into the use of ammunition made with the substance during Nato's 1999 campaign in Kosovo, "but we didn't have enough elements to proceed".
Italy and several other Nato members are carrying out their own investigations by health and other scientific experts to see if a number of cancer cases among veterans of military tours in the Balkans are linked to the use of Nato ammunition containing depleted uranium.
Del Ponte was in northern Italy to receive an award.
AP