ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Kunar Governor Shujaul Mulk Jalala on Monday said a search operation had been accelerated to recover missing Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers.
As a result of a daring predawn Taliban attack, 21 ANA personnel were killed and eight others kidnapped in the Ghaziabad district of the eastern province.
A large number of government officials, lawmakers and residents attended a ceremony for delivery of the soldiers’ bodies to their families at the Sardar Mohammad Daud Khan Hospital in Kabul.
National anthem was played as their bodies were wrapped up in national flag. Three militants were also killed in the attack, Jalala said, adding tribal elders had been approached to help recover the missing soldiers.
Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, the chief of army staff, visited Ghaziabad after the incident, the governor said. The trip was aimed to express solidarity with the soldiers.
nh/rm
