Argentina collects blood to ID "disappeared"

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina is collecting blood samples from the families of people abducted during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship in an effort to identify hundreds of skeletal remains, officials said on Friday.

Government officials hope the blood samples will aid in DNA testing of about 600 unidentified bodies.

More than 11,000 people disappeared during the military's seven-year systematic crackdown on dissidents, known as Argentina's "dirty war." Human rights groups put the death toll at 30,000.

Eduardo Luis Duhalde, Argentina's human rights secretary, said the project would allow aging relatives to play a key role in finding their loved ones.

"Part of the anguish one perceives from the mothers and the fathers of the disappeared is that they may die and fear that could hinder the identification process," he said.

"This project will try to bring them some peace, so they can know that, although they may no longer be here physically, elements will exist allowing us to identify whatever remains are found," Duhalde added.

Officials are seeking to collect some 3,600 blood samples, which will be sent to the United States, where they will be analyzed. Forensic experts will compare the samples with the DNA found in the remains.

The program is the latest step in a renewed examination of the dirty war era by the government of President Nestor Kirchner, who has injected new political will into human rights issues since taking office in 2003.