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Pilot Ahuja's body has bullet wounds

The body of Sqn Ldr Ajay Ahuja, the pilot of the MiG 21 which was shot down on Thursday in the Kargil sector, had bullet wounds which indicate he might have been killed after he parachuted to the ground on Pakistani territory.

Air vice marshal S K Malik, additional assistant chief of staff (operations), said during a briefing in Srinagar today that Pakistan handed over the body in Kargil sector yesterday.

''We appreciate this gesture but at the same time were sorry to find out that the body had bullet wounds'', he said.

The body will be taken to the officer's hometown in Bhatinda where it will be cremated with full military honours.

Sqn Ldr Ahuja had gallantly taken off to track where Flt Lt K Nachiketa, the pilot of the MiG 27 plane which developed engine problem, was going to land with his parachute. Sqn Ldr Ahuja's fighter plane was struck by a missile and he had to eject from the aircraft.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has still not handed over Flt Lt Nachiketa despite a request by the Indian Air Force. The IAF has said Pakistan had no business to hold on to the officer as this was not war and the pilot had bailed out from Indian territory. The government made a formal request through the foreign office to Pakistan yesterday to deliver the officer back.

AVM Malik said the site where the Mi-17 helicopter, shot down by a Stinger missile yesterday, crashed had been identified and ground positions were on their way to recover the bodies of the four crew members.

UNI

EXTERNAL LINK:

MiG Debris Pinpoints Flash Point

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