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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...

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 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...

July 10, 1944. 5th Maratha Regiment's Yeshwant Ghadge, all of 22, was caught in a mortal combat in the Upper Tiber Valley of Italy. Except for his commander, his platoon had been wiped out by enemy machine-gunners. With no alternative left, Ghadge rushed the machine gun nest, lobbing grenades, knocking off the gun and the gunner. He charged, shot another enemy. With no time to change his magazine, Ghadge clubbed to death two remaining enemy gunners. Ghadge finally fell to an enemy sniper. India's memories of the World War II are made of such tales of exceptional valour. Fought for...

KATHMANDU - Anyone going through literature put out by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) will understand that the ultimate aim of the "People's War", launched in early 1996, is to convert the Himalayan kingdom into a state run by the believers of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Their Internet web site places Prachanda, their supremo who goes with one name, on a par with Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong. And the Nepali expression of the "Prachanda Path" is made to appear comparable to the Shining Path movement in Peru. Baburam Bhattarai, one of the leader's right-hand men, used to cite the...

Abducted British official a Brigadier General A British official abducted by the Maoists from Baglung on Monday was a senior official named John Paul, a Brigadier General of the British army, published reports said Tuesday. The Kathmandu-based British embassy Monday confirmed the abduction of the official on Monday. Along with Paul, four more officials have gone missing. Of them, three were British Gurkha officials. They have been identified as Nar Bahadur Thapa, Balkrishna Gurung and Karna Bahadur Kaucha. The name of the fifth abducted official was not known. The actual place where the abduction took place was Lekhani village in...