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A 23-year-old courageous soldier of the Gurkha regiment killed a Pakistani trained infiltrator during a hand-to-hand combat along the Line of Control in Poonch in the wee hours of Saturday. Defence PRO in Jammu said, "A 23-year-old soldier from the elite Gurkha Regiment of the Indian Army, Rifleman Prem Bahadur Roka Magar scripted an astonishing saga of raw courage and fearlessness, resulting in the elimination of two hardcore Pakistan trained terrorists in the Poonch sector". "The brave soldier after reaching within hand shaking distance tried to grab the AK 47 rifle of the Pak trained infiltrator and in the ensuing...

'Ronald Reagan issued a last-ditch appeal to Margaret Thatcher to abandon her campaign to retake the Falklands and to hand over the islands to international peacekeepers, according to official documents made public today. Files released by the National Archives at Kew, South West London, under the 30-year rule show that as British troops closed in on final victory, the US president made a late-night phone call to Mrs Thatcher urging her not to completely humiliate the Argentines. However, his request fell on deaf ears as a defiant Prime Minister insisted that she had not sent a British task force across...

Anyone with any knowledge of military history knows the golden rule – don’t mess with a Gurkha. But the knife-wielding mugger in this drama clearly had no idea what he was messing with. He pushed Taitex Phlamachha, a former member of the famous fighting force, up against a wall and demanded money.

NEW DELHI: India's most decorated Army unit is celebrating its 125th anniversary at Almora on Thursday. The second Battalion of the Fifth Gorkha Rifles Frontier Force has the unique distinction of having won three Victoria Crosses - British equivalent of Param Vir Chakra, the highest war-time gallantry award -- during the World War II, besides being the unit of many legendary warriors. Several veterans of the unit are assembling from all over, including many from Nepal, at Almora to celebrate the 125th anniversary of its raising in Abbottabad in Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was recently killed by US forces....

The story of Dipprasad Pun, a Nepali soldier fighting in Afghanistan with the British Royal Gurkha Rifles, didn't get a lot of press in the United States because, well, he's a Nepali British soldier. But it's amazing. Last September, Pun fought off thirty Taliban attackers by himself, firing 400 rounds of machine gun ammunition, detonating 17 grenades, a landmine, and finally beating the last attackers back with the tripod of his gun. Naturally, he received a high honor yesterday: Britain's Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. A report from March in the British Forces News explains that Pun was on sentry duty alone...

A Nepalese soldier in the British army has been given a top bravery award by Queen Elizabeth II for his heroics in Afghanistan, where he single-handedly saw off more than 30 Taliban fighters. Corporal Dipprasad Pun, 31, said he thought he was going to die and so had nothing to lose in taking on the attackers who overran his checkpoint. He was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross (CGC), which is given in recognition of acts of conspicuous gallantry during active operations against the enemy. Pun fired more than 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine to repel the...

A GURKHA who fought off 30 Taliban on his own even after his ammunition ran out yesterday received a top bravery medal from the Queen.

If you guessed the Taliban, then you’d be correct. A lone Gurkha fought off an attack by 30 Taliban fanatics with just a chunk of metal and a sandbag after running out of ammunition. According to World Live News: Sergeant Dipprasad Pun, 31, facing a surprise attack at a Afghanistan checkpoint, used superhuman strength to hoist a 50lb machine gun off its mount to blast at the enemy. When they kept coming, he launched 17 grenades and picked up an SA80 assault rifle, only for it to jam. Then he threw the machine gun’s metal tripod at his attackers, before...

Just picture the scene as a soldier returns from hunting an arch-enemy. Commanding officer: 'Did you get him?' Soldier: 'Yes, sir.' Commanding officer: 'Are you sure?' Soldier: 'Yes, sir.' Soldier reaches into rucksack and places severed head on table. Commanding officer: ' ****!' If it happened in a Hollywood movie, the audience would either laugh or applaud. But there was no laughter the other day when this happened for real in Babaji, Afghanistan, current posting for the 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles. The precise circumstances will not be determined until an official report has been completed, but reliable military sources...

A Gurkha who single-handedly fought off an attack by at least a dozen Taliban insurgents has been awarded Britain's second highest medal for bravery. Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun used up all of his ammunition and resorted to using his machine gun tripod to repel the attack in Afghanistan in September. The Gurkha, 31, of Ashford, Kent, said he was a "lucky guy" and very proud to get the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. A total of 136 UK servicemen and women are being honoured, four posthumously.

Whoa...holy cow! Every once in a while someone in the world comes along and reminds us what a true hero really looks like. A 35 year-old Gurkha soldier named Bishnu Shrestha was riding a train when he suddenly found himself in the middle of a massive robbery. 40 men armed with knives, swords and guns stormed the train and began robbing the passengers. Bishnu kept his peace while the gang snatched cell phones, jewelry and cash from other riders. But then, the thugs grabbed the 18 year-old girl sitting next to him and forcefully stripped her naked. Before the bandits...

Whoa...holy cow! Every once in a while someone in the world comes along and reminds us what a true hero really looks like. A 35 year-old Gurkha soldier named Bishnu Shrestha was riding a train when he suddenly found himself in the middle of a massive robbery. 40 men armed with knives, swords and guns stormed the train and began robbing the passengers. Bishnu kept his peace while the gang snatched cell phones, jewelry and cash from other riders. But then, the thugs grabbed the 18 year-old girl sitting next to him and forcefully stripped her naked. Before the bandits...

The band of about 40 robbers, some of whom were travelling as passengers, stopped the train in the Chittaranjan jungles in West Bengal around midnight. Shrestha-- who had boarded the train at Ranchi in Jharkhand, the place of his posting--was in seat no. 47 in coach AC3. “They started snatching jewelry, cell phones, cash, laptops and other belongings from the passengers,” Shrestha recalled. The soldier had somehow remained a silent spectator amidst the melee, but not for long. He had had enough when the robbers stripped an 18-year-old girl sitting next to him and tried to rape her right in...

Lone Nepali Gorkha who subdued 40 train robbers MANOJ ADHIKARI/SANTOSH POKHAREL POKHARA, Jan 13: Gorkha soldiers have long been known the world over for their valor and these khukuri-wielding warriors winning the British many a battle have become folklore. A retired Indian Gorkha soldier recently revisited those glory days when he thwarted 40 robbers, killing three of them and injuring eight others, with his khukuri during a train journey. He is in line to receive three gallantry awards from the Indian government. Slave girl Morgiana in the Arabian Nights used her cunning to finish off Ali Baba´s 40 thieves, but...

GURKHA rifleman Lachhiman Gurung won the Victoria Cross, our highest award for gallantry in battle, for his bravery on behalf of Allied troops against the Japanese in Burma in 1945 http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/obituaries/Obituary-Lachhiman-Gurung-VC-Gurkha.6661976.jp

LONDON: The world-famous Gurkha Regiment, part of the British army for almost 200 years, may be among those axed unless the ministry of defence's demands for more money to fund the replacement of Trident nuclear missile submarines are answered. Last night, hopes for extra funding were fading as chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander rejected demands for extra money from Tory defence secretary Liam Fox and insisted the £20 billion cost of replacing Trident had to be met fully by the MoD, The Observer reported. Quoting an expert, the report said the increasing costs of running the regiment following...

A Gurkha soldier has been flown back to the UK after hacking the head off a dead Taliban commander with his ceremonial knife to prove the dead man’s identity. The private, from 1st Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles, was involved in a fierce firefight with insurgents in the Babaji area of central Helmand Province when the incident took place earlier this month. His unit had been told that they were seeking a ‘high value target,’ a Taliban commander, and that they must prove they had killed the right man. Deadly: A platoon of Gurkhas demonstrate their skill with their kukri knives...

THE safety of Australian embassy staff operating out of the US diplomatic compound in Kabul has been jeopardised by security lapses so severe the US State Department has issued a series of complaints against the private contractor responsible. State Department documents released during a US Senate hearing last week showed the contractor in charge of security at the US embassy in Afghanistan, ArmorGroup North America, "has been deficient since the start of the contract in July 2007". ArmorGroup left guard posts at the embassy vacant, hired Gurkha security guards who could not speak English, and failed to properly train their...

Today’s mission included moving to capture some bomb makers. What the Gurkhas did not know was that the action they thought they were moving to was not the actual training. The real training was to be an attack on them that would occur along the way. Major Will Kefford, the commander of C coy, continues to throw unexpected curveballs at the men. Nothing is sacred. Everything is a trick. Before we set off, Major Kefford said to me something like, “See that man on the ground over there? That’s Agnish. He got the Military Cross in Afghanistan on the last...

MPs vote by a majority of 21 to back a Liberal Democrat demand for all former Gurkhas to be allowed to settle in the UK Gordon Brown suffered a surprise defeat in the House of Commons today when MPs voted to allow all retired Gurkhas to settle in the UK. Although ministers offered a series of minor concessions intended to satisfy the many Labour MPs who signed an amendment attacking government policy, MPs voted by a majority of 21 to back a Liberal Democrat demand for all former Gurkhas – not just those who retired after 1997, plus a few...