Major Hart attributed the reduction to a ban on alcohol for the 540,000 American forces in the gulf and the fact that many fewer service members were driving vehicles here than at home. Traffic accidents, including alcohol-related ones, are the No. 1 cause of death in the peacetime military, he said.

The Senegalese forces joined troops from eight other Islamic nations during the ground offensive to form a 30,000-member task force that rolled up the coastal highway into Kuwait from their positions in Saudi Arabia, overrunning Iraqi defenses.

The Senegalese troops were hit by an Iraqi Frog missile on Feb. 21, and eight soldiers were wounded.

Mr. Gaye, the Senegal Embassy official, said the dead soldiers would not be flown home, but would be buried in Saudi Arabia to be close to Islam's holiest shrines.

Senegal's Defense Minister, Medoune Fall, told The Associated Press that the soldiers had "fallen on the field of the faith, thousands of kilometers from home, where they had gone to defend peace and justice." Talks on Iraqi P.O.W.'s

As Saudi officials began an inquiry into the crash, a four-member Iraqi delegation arrived in Riyadh to discuss efforts to accelerate the repatriation of more than 60,000 Iraqi prisoners of war.

The allies have turned over 1,793 prisoners to Iraqi officials. The last week was meant to be a trial period, allied officials said, in which Saudi officials released three groups of 500 Iraqis to test the transportation and suitability of the exchange site near the northern Saudi town of Ar Ar.