KABUL- Forensic experts have identified the remains of 42 victims from an Afghan airliner which crashed near Kabul last month killing all 104 people on board, officials said.
The bodies of 17 foreigners and 25 Afghans were identified by matching photographs of the victims, clothing and other possessions, said General Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the crash investigation commission.
"Up to date 42 bodies have been identified," Azimi told reporters Wednesday, referring to the victims of the Kam Air Boeing 737 which hit a mountainside on February 3.
"No more identification is possible -- neither the Afghan experts nor the foreign specialists could identify more bodies through physical tests".
The rest of the bodies would have to undergo DNA tests, officials said.
An Italian forensic team visited Afghanistan early March to help with identification of the bodies, taking 73 DNA samples for tests in Italy. The results will be announced later.
The jet was en route from the western city of Herat to Kabul when it hit a 3,300-metre (9,900-feet) mountain peak during a snowstorm. Twenty-four of the victims were foreigners.
Recovery work was hampered by Afghanistan's coldest winter in a decade, which left the crash site buried under metres of snow.
One Afghan soldier was killed and another wounded in a landmine blast explosion during the search, Azimi said on Tuesday.
03/16/2005 13:40 GMT