TIRANA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Albanian government declared Friday a national mourning day in honor of Albanian Armed Forces member Zarife Hasanaj, who died on Monday in an explosion of a wartime mine while participating in a NATO-led mission to dispose World War II explosives in Latvia.
On Friday, all government buildings and institutions lowered their flags at half-mast to pay condolences to the victim and one-minute silence mourning for the deceased was observed at 12:00 local time.
The body of the First Lieutenant Hasanaj arrived at the International Airport in Tirana on Thursday escorted by a military ceremony.
Two other Albanian officers, a major and a sergeant were also injured during the explosion.
Some 20 members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) contingent of the Albanian Armed Forced are in Latvia to dismantle land mines left over from the Second World War, as part of a NATO Enhanced Forward Presence mission.
Albania joined NATO in April 2009 and contributes with over 200 army members to NATO and international peacekeeping missions in Latvia, Afghanistan, the Aegean Sea, Mali and South Sudan.
