The bodies were handed over to ICRC official Dennis Allistone at the Army base hospital around 6.15 pm, an Army spokesperson said. Allistone checked the bodies and documents, before taking the coffins, containing the bodies draped in Pakistani flags, to Palam Airport en route to Pakistan.

Soldiers from the Rajputana Rifles offered a guard of honour before the handing-over was done, the spokeperson said. He pointed out that the media was not allowed to be present in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

An MEA spokesman added that Pakistan had sent a message through the ICRC this morning saying it was ready to take the bodies. Italso confirmed that the bodies were those of Pakistan Army regulars.

There was one aspect though, on which Pak disagreed with India: The identity of the bodies. India said the two bodies were of Captain Kamal Sher from the 12 Northern Light Infantry and Captain Imtiaz from the 165 Mortar Regiment, on the basis of documents and letters found on them.

``While they agreed that one of the bodies was that of Captain Kamal Sher, they refused to verify the other. They claim that Captain Imtiaz is recuperating in a hospital in Pakistan, and so the second body is that of an unidentified Army officer,'' the spokesperson said. ``Anyway, we decided to hand over the bodies to ICRC, as Pakistan's admission that the bodies are that of their officers.''

For more than a week, Pakistan refused to accept these bodies. It was only after the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) spoke to his Pakistani counterpart about the Army's plans to bury the bodies, that Pakistan got back saying it wanted to discuss theissue.

This is the second time that India has handed over bodies of Pakistani soldiers. In the first instance, in May, three bodies were handed over. These soldiers had been spotted trying to intrude into Indian territory.

In connection with the bodies of Pakistani soldiers found in the Kargil sector during Operation Vijay, Army spokesman Col Bikram Singh said that 249 bodies have been recovered so far. Of these, 150 were killed in the Drass and Mushkoh Valley sectors. The maximum bodies -- 35 -- were retrieved from a position named Helmet in Drass, while 27 were buried as per military custom by Indian troops at Point 4812 in the Batalik Sector, where 99 bodies were found.

Twenty bodies were recovered in Pimple II in Drass and 20 each in point 5140 and South of point 5287 in the Batalik sector. Except for the bodies that have been handed over, the remaining 244 have been buried by Indian troops.