Kabul, May 20 (IANS): "Will continue to save lives of people with my new Indian hands," said a former Afghan National Army officer here on Wednesday, pepped with a pair of transplanted Indian hands in place of his own which were lost in an explosion.

Abdul Rahim, 30, lost his both hands in an explosion in Afghanistan when he was trying to defuse a bomb. He returned to home country after receiving transplanted hands at an Indian hospital.

He said on Wednesday that as soon as he recovers, he will return to the Afghan military and "will save lives of people with the pair of Indian hands", reports Khaama press.

Rahim was assigned to a bomb disposal squad and his deployment took him to restive Kandahar province, the birth place of Taliban.

About three years ago Rahim was trying to defuse a landmine planted by terrorists in Kandahar. As in the past, he was able to save people, but the bomb went off just then and he lost both of his hands in the blast.

He made several attempts for his treatment but in vain.

Then, about four months ago he contacted the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre at Kochi city in the Indian state of Kerala.

In a transplant surgery, Indian doctors equipped him with new hands of a brain dead person, and he regained considerable degree of function with them. Doctors now require him intensive physiotherapy for ten months to gain full functional control over the new hands.