Dineshkumar and Harendragiri were killed on the midnight of June 27 in an operation to capture a post near Tiger Hill in Mushkoh Valley. While Dinesh is from Nirmali village of Kapadwanj taluka in Kheda district, Harendragiri is from Koilana village of Keshod taluka in Junagadh district.

The mood at the airport was sombre as Army personnel, police officers and onlookers waited anxiously on the tarmac for the Delhi-Ahmedabad flight which was delayed for more than two hours.

As soon as the flight reached here at about 10.40 pm, two coffins draped intricolour and with wreaths laid on them were off-loaded by four soldiers each. Gloom descended over the gathering as the coffins were placed on three tables covered with a white cloth. Twenty-four soldiers standing in two rows lowered their guns.

Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari placed a wreath as soldiers saluted the martyrs. Director Sainik Welfare and Resettlement Brigadier B S Mehta also placed a wreath. Officer commanding (rear), Gandhinagar field formation, Col. B R Singh placed wreath on behalf of Maj. Gen. V K Jetley, GoC, 11 Infantry Division.

While the Guard of Honour was underway, an ex-serviceman who had worked with the martyrs broke down. Hawaldar Hirabhai Parmar and Nayak Bharatbhai Jadav, the two soldiers of 12-Mahar regiment, who accompanied the bodies from Kargil, tried to console Sursinh Solanki who is now with the police. ``I was also with 12-Mahar, and we all ate and slept together,'' an emotional Solanki recalled.

Describing the night their colleagues were killed, Parmar said, ``Itwas a moonlit night and we confronted fierce enemy fire as soon as we launched the operation. Five soldiers, including Dinesh and Harendra, were killed and 12 others were injured. But we captured the post.'' Dinesh was hit in the head and Harendra took two bullets in the back, he said.

The bodies were later placed in two Army trucks. While a unit from Gandhinagar field formation will conduct the Guard of Honour for Dinesh at Nirmali, another unit from Jamnagar will hold the ceremony for Goswami tomorrow.

However, the urn containing the ashes of Nayak Mukesh Rathod did not arrive today as expected. Home Minister Haren Pandya said efforts would be made to get it on Friday.