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CRPF`s commando unit sets record by getting 15 bravery medals

Setting a record of sorts of getting the most gallantry awards, CRPF`s lone CoBRA commando unit deployed for anti-insurgency operations in the North East was Thursday accorded as many as 15 medals for undertaking daring actions against the ultras and insurgents.

New Delhi: Setting a record of sorts of getting the most gallantry awards, CRPF`s lone CoBRA commando unit deployed for anti-insurgency operations in the North East was Thursday accorded as many as 15 medals for undertaking daring actions against the ultras and insurgents.
The 210 Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) is deployed in the Darrang district of Assam and its units are spread across the interior forests of this state and neighbouring Meghalaya for conducting intelligence based stealth operations in these two states affected by insurgency. "This is for the first time that 15 officers and men of a single paramilitary or commando battalion have been decorated with gallantry medals. While this CoBRA unit is located in the North East, the rest nine are deployed for anti-Naxal operations in Maoist violence hit states," a senior officer said. Citing the operational achievements of this unit, the official said it killed 14 ultras, apprehended 57, recovered 37 sophisticated arms, seized 1,031 rounds of ammunition, 21 grenades and bombs, two local bombs and 32 detonators during the first seven months of this year. The specially-trained unit is deployed in these areas since 2011 and since then the commandos of the battalion have nabbed 670 insurgents and killed 48 of banned outfits like GNLA and others. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the country`s largest paramilitary force by virtue of having close to 3-lakh personnel in its ranks has got the distinction of getting a maximum of 71 medals of gallantry this Independence day including one President`s Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG). The CoBRA was raised in 2010 for special operations and young and motivated men of the CRPF were chosen to constitute its ten battalions (10,000 personnel).