The World - News from Nov. 27, 1988

Nearly 70 sick or wounded prisoners of war flew home to Iran and Iraq in a second troubled swap of captives by the Persian Gulf War foes. The two sides said fewer than half the originally scheduled number of prisoners of war were returned, with Iran saying that some Iraqi captives had sought asylum and others were no longer sick and therefore not eligible. Baghdad said only 51 Iraqi POWs, instead of 115 originally expected, arrived in Baghdad aboard a plane from Tehran chartered by the International Committee of the Red Cross. In response, Iraq cut from 41 to 18 the number of Iranian POWs allowed to leave for Tehran.