ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday attended funeral prayers for seven soldiers who had embraced martyrdom during an operation in North Waziristan.

According to a press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the funeral prayers were offered at the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

After the funeral prayers, the bodies of the martyrs were sent to their respective native towns for burial with full military honour.

The seven army personnel, including an officer, were martyred when a group of soldiers were ambushed by militants in North Waziristan on Saturday. Nine attackers were killed when the soldiers returned fire.

According to officials, the exchange of fire between the soldiers and militants took place in the Soor Daag area of tehsil Datakhel, near the Afghan border.

They said the soldiers had come under attack from a compound when an intelligence-based operation in the area was under way.

The martyred personnel were identified as Captain Junaid, Havildars Ameer, Asif, Naseer and Abdul Razzaq and Sepoys Sammiullah and Anwar Jan.

Captain Junaid belonged to tehsil Murree and was unmarried. Havildar Abdul Razzaq belonged to Astore district and left behind a widow, a son and five daughters. Havildar Ameer belonged to Gilgit district and is survived by a widow, two sons and a daughter. Havildar Naseer belonged to Chilas in Diamer district and left behind a widow and mother. Havildar Asif belonged to Khanewal district and left behind his parents, widow, seven sisters and a brother. Sepoy Samiullah hailed from Hunza district in Gilgit-Baltistan and Sepoy Anwar Jan was a resident of GB’s Ghizar district. Both were unmarried.

Later, funeral prayers for five of the seven martyred soldiers were held in Gilgit and Diamer. Force Commander Northern Areas Maj Gen Saqib Mahmoud Malik, GB Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman, Chief Secretary Babar Hayat Tarar and top civil and military officers attended the funeral prayers in Gilgit.

The five martyred soldiers belonged to the army’s Northern Light Infantry which was upgraded to a regiment by former army chief retired Gen Pervez Musharraf after the Kargil war. It has played a central role in the war against terrorism in Swat and Waziristan.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2018