Captain Abuzar Farooq, 23, of Gujranwala and Lieutenant Sheraz Babar, 22, of Chakwal martyred leading their troops from the front, drawing tributes from the president, the prime minister and three chief ministers.
RAWALPINDI/LAHORE: Six Pakistan Army personnel, including two officers in their early twenties, were martyred on Sunday when a security forces convoy came under fire in Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Eight militants were killed in the exchange, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations.
The military identified the officers as Captain Abuzar Farooq, 23, from Gujranwala, and Lieutenant Sheraz Babar, 22, from Chakwal, both of whom it said were leading their troops from the front. Four soldiers were martyred alongside them.
A clearance operation was under way in the surrounding area by Sunday evening. President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and the chief ministers of Punjab and Sindh issued tributes during the day.
The engagement took place between a Pakistan Army convoy and militants in Hangu, according to a statement from the military’s media wing issued on Sunday. Eight militants, whom the ISPR described as belonging to Indian-sponsored Fitna al-Khawarij, were killed by the troops. During what the statement called an intense exchange, two officers leading their men from the front were martyred along with four soldiers.
The ISPR named the officers as Captain Abuzar Farooq, aged 23 and a resident of Gujranwala district, and Lieutenant Sheraz Babar, aged 22 and a resident of Chakwal district. The four soldiers martyred with them were identified in material released by the military as Sepoy Shakeel Ahmed, Non-Combatant Ghulam Sajjad, Sepoy Hamza and Sepoy Muhammad Usman Aziz. Both officers were commissioned barely out of their training years; both came from Punjab districts, giving the loss a particular resonance in this province.
A sanitisation operation was being conducted to clear any remaining militants from the area and to secure local residents and the national highways running through the district. The military said its counter-terrorism campaign under the Azm-e-Istehkam vision, approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, would continue at full pace to eliminate what it called foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism, adding that the sacrifices of the six reinforced the armed forces’ commitment to safeguarding the country.
Tributes followed through the afternoon and evening. President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the martyrdoms, commended the forces for killing eight militants and offered condolences to the families.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif paid tribute to the security forces and expressed condolences over the deaths of the two officers and four soldiers.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the six had confronted the militants with courage and that their sacrifices in the line of duty would be remembered.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif praised the forces, paid tribute to the martyred officers and soldiers and expressed sympathy with the bereaved families, saying they had shown courage in defending the country.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said the sacrifices made for the country’s peace and security would always be remembered and called the martyrs a source of national pride.
Sunday’s engagement extends an intense fortnight for the security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The ISPR had reported 10 militants killed in multiple engagements in the province between September 15 and 17, with six soldiers martyred, and 21 militants killed in the province in early September. It also comes two days after the suicide bombing at Kohat Police Lines, in which 21 people including 15 police personnel were killed and which KP police have attributed to an Afghan national, and on the same day as the Kalat operation on the N-25 in which five militants were killed and 23 hostages freed.
Punjab has separately reported a foiled infiltration attempt on the Pak-Afghan border this month. Two points of reporting caution apply. “Fitna al-Khawarij” is the terminology the Pakistani military uses for militants linked to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, and the attribution of Indian sponsorship is an official Pakistani position that New Delhi has consistently rejected.
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