RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday visited Armed Forces Institute of Ophthalmology and met soldiers who had lost their eyesight during the ongoing Operation Zarb-i-Azb against militants in North Waziristan.

According to ISPR, Gen Raheel visited the visual rehabilitation centre at the hospital and met soldiers who had lost their eyesight due to IED blasts during the operation.

Military operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched by the Pakistan Army on June 15, 2014, following a brazen militant attack on Karachi's international airport and failure of peace talks between the government and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) negotiators.

In February this year, the COAS had given the go-ahead for the initiation of the final phase of operation Zarb-i-Azab in the Shawal valley region of North Waziristan.

The last phase of the operation aims to clear the last remnants of the militants from their hideouts in the forested ravines, isolate them and destroy them in detail, while also severing their links to their abettors across the country.