Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: At least nine soldiers of the Pakistan Army were martyred and four injured
when their truck plunged into a ravine in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sunday morning,
the military said.
A Pakistan Army vehicle met an accident and fell into a Nullah in Shaujabad, Bagh early
this [Sunday] morning while on routine military duty. Resultantly, nine soldiers embraced
martyrdom while four are injured, a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) said.
It said that the injured were evacuated to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi.
Funeral prayers of the martyred were offered at Mangla garrison. Lieutenant General Sahir
Shamshad Mirza, Corps Commander Rawalpindi and other military officials attended the
funeral prayers.
Jasde Khaki of Shuhada will be sent to their native towns and buried with full military
honours.
The truck — part of a military convoy — was heading towards Mang Bajri in Bagh district
when the incident occurred near Shujaabad , some 12km before its destination, at about 4am
on Sunday, Reuters quoted military officials as saying.
Local police said that the truck fell 500 feet down the ravine.
Road accidents frequently occur in the hilly areas of AJK and are mostly blamed on narrow
roads with negligible safety measures as well as careless driving.
In November last year, a bus plunged into a ravine in AJK killing 22 passengers.