ISLAMABAD, Oct 15: The body of the Chinese engineer killed during a commando operation against his kidnappers in South Waziristan on Thursday will be flown to China on Saturday morning, a Foreign Office source said.

Talking to Dawn, the source said Beijing had formally conveyed to Islamabad that all Chinese nationals associated with various projects in Pakistan would continue to work till completion of those projects.

The government of Pakistan, he said, was considering announcing compensation for the bereaved family of Mr Wang Peng, adding that the foreign ministry had already sent a summary to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in this regard.

Chinese engineers Wang Peng and Wang Ende were kidnapped by militants along with their Pakistani guard and driver on Oct 9 from Tank and taken to Chagmalai in South Waziristan. Mr Peng was killed along with the all five kidnappers while Mr Ende was rescued in the commando operation security forced carried out on Thursday after efforts to secure a safe release of the hostages had failed.

The source said that Mr Ende had flown to China on Friday. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, First Secretary to the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, Mr Duyunkeng, Mr Peng's family members and some other officials of the Chinese Embassy would take the body to China on a C-130 plane.

Before departure, a guard of honour ceremony would be held at the airport at 8.45am to pay tribute to the deceased. Parliamentarians and senior government and military officials would attend the ceremony.

The source said that the flight would take off from the PAF airbase Chaklala at 9am and land at Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, at 9pm. Pakistan's Ambassador to China Muhammad Riaz Khan would receive the body at the Jinan airport and take it to the hometown of the deceased engineer.

The source said that during his stay in China the minister of state would call on the governor of Shandong to convey a condolence massage of the government of Pakistan.

The foreign ministry, he said, had received a formal announcement of the Chinese government that all (107) Chinese experts working on the Gomal Zam dam would continue to work till the completion of the project.