Italian scientists will test DNA samples to identify dozens of people killed when an Afghan airliner crashed into a mountaintop near Kabul last month with the loss of all on board, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday.

The death toll from the February 3 crash of the Kam Air Boeing 737 had been revised from 104 to 105, to include an Afghan child whose name had not been on the passenger manifest, said ministry spokesman Zahir Azimy.

He said 73 bodies had been recovered from the crash site on the 3,300 metre (11,000 foot) Shapiri Ghar mountain, about 30 km (20 miles) southeast of Kabul.

Azimy said 15 of the bodies had been identified and 12 returned to their families, including nine Afghans, four Americans, one Italian and a Russian.

He said an Italian forensic team had taken 95 DNA samples from bodies and body parts and those would be taken to Italy for tests. "We expect the results in one or two weeks," he said.

Bad weather and steep terrain has hampered efforts to recover bodies from the site of what was Afghanistan's worst-ever civil aviation disaster. Azimy said recovery work was continuing.

Among those on board were more than 20 foreigners, including nine Turks, six Americans, three Italians and an Iranian. At least four Russians and a Canadian were among the crew. The pilot was Russian and the first officer Canadian.

The 23 year old 737 disappeared from radar screens while approaching Kabul after a flight from the western city of Herat.

The cause of the crash remains unclear.

Officials of Kam Air, Afghanistan's only private airline, said after the crash the 737 had been turned away from Kabul Airport, which has only limited landing aids, because of heavy snow.

However, the US military, which has controlled Afghanistan's air space since overthrowing the Taliban in 2001, has expressed doubt that the aircraft was turned away.

A manager of Phoenix Aviation, a United Arab Emirates-based firm which leased the 737 to Kam Air, said last month bad weather caused the accident, not any fault with the plane.

The flight data recorder has been found and taken for analysis at the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States. But officials say the cockpit voice recorder has not yet been recovered.