Bodies of Indians killed in Kabul brought back

The bodies of six Indians killed in the Taliban attack in Kabul were flown to New Delhi in a special aircraft. Eight other Indians who were injured in the terror strike on two guest houses in the Afghan capital were also brought to the city in the plane.

President Pratibha Patil, who was returning from Pune, offered her tributes to the victims at the Palam Technical Area where the aircraft had landed. She also spoke to the relatives of the victims.

"She came back from Pune after a scheduled visit. The President upon landing came to know about the arrival of the bodies from Kabul. She waited for about ten minutes and placed a wreath," a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said.
The injured persons were taken to Army Hospital, Research and Referral, for treatment.

Ten people, including five Indian Army officers, were injured in the strike. The six Indians whose bodies have been brought here have been identified as Major Dr Laishram Jyotin Singh of Army Medical Corps, Major Deepak Yadav of Army Education Corps, engineer Bhola Ram, tabla player Nawab Khan, staffer of Kandahar Consulate Nitish Chibber and ITBP constable Roshan Lal.

Jyoti Singh was in Afghanistan to train local doctors at the Indira Gandhi hospital while Deepak Yadav was teaching English at the Afghan Military Academy.

Nawab Khan was part of a three-member cultural troupe which was sent by Indian Council for Cultural Relations to Afghanistan. Bhola Ram was project director at Afghan Power Grid Corporation and was instrumental in bringing electricity to Kabul from Uzbekistan.

The project had been completed and Bhola Ram was in the process of handing over the responsibilities to Afghan officials for which they were being trained.

ITBP constable Roshan Lal, 35, a resident of Himachal Pradesh, was deployed as a securityman at the Indian Consulate in Herat. He was on leave and in transit on his way back home.

Chibber was Secretary at the Indian Consulate in Kandahar.