RAWALPINDI (The Thursday Times) — Funeral prayers were offered in Rawalpindi on Sunday for Major Omer Minhas Nasir and Havildar Muhammad Adnan Khan, the two soldiers martyred in Balochistan a day earlier, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif among those present.
Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, the information minister, senior civilian and military officials, and relatives of the two men also attended, according to state media. The armed forces and the nation paid solemn tribute to the supreme sacrifice of the two men, it said, and their courage and dedication remained a source of enduring pride.
The two will be laid to rest in their native towns with full military honours, it said. The military has said Major Nasir was from Chakwal district and Havildar Khan from Kotli Sattian.
How they died
The two soldiers were martyred on Saturday when terrorists attacked their patrol with armed quadcopters near Nushki in Balochistan, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. It blamed Fitna al-Hindustan, the name the state uses for Baloch separatist groups it says are backed by India. The attack came hours after troops killed eight terrorists, including a suicide bomber, near Kolpur on the night of November 13–14.
The ISPR said security forces had been carrying out intelligence-based operations around Kolpur, Kardagap, and Nushki since November 13, including patrols to keep the Quetta–Taftan highway secure for local traffic, and that the operations would continue.
Two more soldiers, Havildar Asmat Ali and Naik Aftab Ali, were martyred on Saturday in North Waziristan, where 16 terrorists were killed. Read the earlier report on the Balochistan attack.
