DHAKA: Nelson Mandela’s body has been laid to rest in a family plot, after political and religious leaders paid tribute to South Africa’s first black president at a state funeral service.

His widow, Graca Machel, and South Africa president Jacob Zuma were present for the private, traditional Xhosa ceremony at Mandela’s ancestral home in Qunu, reports the BBC.

Zuma had earlier told the larger funeral service that South Africans had to take his legacy forward.

Mandela died on 5 December aged 95.

A close friend, Ahmed Kathrada, told mourners at the service he had lost an ‘elder brother’ who was with him for many years in prison on Robben island.

Mandela’s casket was carried by the military, accompanied by family and friends, from a specially-erected marquee up a hill to the graveside.

South Africa’s air force staged a fly-past of the gravesite as the coffin was lowered into the grave.

BDST: 1707 HRS, DEC 15, 2013
Edited by: Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor