Captain martyred, soldier hurt in Mohmand IED blast

GHALLANI: A captain of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) was martyred and a soldier was injured in an explosion caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Peeshto Kandao in the Safi subdivision of Mohmand tribal district on Wednesday.

Security officials said the martyred and injured soldier were part of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) and were on a mission to clear the route when an IED planted by unknown people by the roadside went off.

The sources said Captain Zargham was martyred on the spot while Sepoy Rehman suffered injuries. He was immediately taken to a hospital in Ghallanai, the headquarters of Mohmand tribal district.

Meanwhile, the Namaz-e-Janaza of Shaheed Captain Zargham was offered in Peshawar Cantonment and his body was dispatched to his ancestral town for burial with full military honours. Governor Shah Farman, Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood, IGFC Major General Mohammad Wasim Ashraf, DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor, provincial ministers and a number of civil and military officials attended the funeral for Captain Zargham.

It was after some gap that a terrorist attack took place in Mohmand. Like other tribal districts, Mohmand had become quite peaceful after a series of military offensives conducted against the militants. The militants had escaped across the border to Afghanistan and settled in border provinces such as Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan from where they stage attacks inside the tribal districts.

The security situation had improved in the tribal districts after Pakistan started fencing the border with Afghanistan and regularised movement of Afghans entering Pakistan. Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Wednesday said Captain Zargham Fareed, who was martyred in the Mohmand district, had offered the supreme sacrifice for the defence of the motherland and security of its people. The minister, in a statement here, paid tribute to the martyred officer and said the brave armed forces of Pakistan were rendering great sacrifices for defending the country and they were the pride of the nation.