Army Chief General Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq on Friday placed wreaths at Martyr Square at Ndromo army camp in Bunia of the Democratic Republic of Congo to pay homage to 13 Bangladeshi army personnel, who made supreme sacrifice for establishing peace in the country.

Of them, nine UN peacekeepers from Bangladesh were martyred in an ambush of militia group on February 25, 2005 when they were on a domination patrol near the town of Kafe, about 20 miles northwest of Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province. 

Besides, four more Bangladeshi army personnel sacrificed their lives while discharging duties in UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo in separate incidents.

BANBAT-5 (Bangladeshi Battalion-5) constructed a martyr square the same year at Ndromo army camp to commemorate the martyrs, said a press release of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) yesterday.

When paying tribute on Friday, Shafiul Huq was accompanied by commandant of Central Mechanical Transport Depot, director of Overseas Operations Directorate, director of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Directorate, Bangladesh Army Country Senior in the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), commander of the Ituri Brigade of the UN Mission in Congo, and contingent commander of BANBAT-1/19.

On June 8, the six-member delegation of Bangladesh Army led by the army chief left the capital to visit peacekeeping mission area in DR Congo.

They are scheduled to return home on June 15.