BEIRUT, Oct 16 (Reuters) - There is "positive progress" on talks to free two captured Israeli soldiers in a prisoner swap deal, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday.

"I can talk for the first time of the existence of positive progress in these main negotiations, the ones linked to the Israeli soldiers and the prisoners," Nasrallah said in a brief televised speech on Hezbollah's Al Manar television.

Nasrallah's comments came a day after the Jewish state and the guerrilla group exchanged the remains of an Israeli civilian for a captive Lebanese guerrilla and the bodies of two comrades in a U.N. brokered deal.

The two Israeli soldiers were captured by Hezbollah in July 2006, which triggered a 34-day war between Israel and the guerrilla group.

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