Hezbollah has remains of Israeli troops

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah says his militant group is holding body parts of several Israeli soldiers killed in battle.

Nasrallah said during a recent public appearance in Beirut, his first in more than a year, that Hezbollah had the bodily remains of Israeli troops who died during the 2006 military conflict in Lebanon, the BBC reported Saturday.

"Our fighters were fighting and confronting these Zionists," Nasrallah said during his rare public appearance. "They were killing them and collecting the remains of their bodies.

"I am not talking about insignificant bodily remains. I tell the Israelis we have heads, hands, legs of your soldiers. We also have a nearly intact cadaver from the head down to the pelvis."

The body parts could be useful bargaining chips for the militant group as the BBC said Israel previously has conducted prisoner exchanges with Hezbollah in order to retrieve the remains of fallen soldiers.