Gurkha gets Britain’s second highest bravery medal for fighting Taliban in Afghanistan
March 25th, 2011 - 2:13 pm ICT by ANI
London, Mar 25(ANI): A Gurkha who single-handedly fought off an attack by at least a dozen Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan has been awarded Britain’s second highest medal for bravery, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross.
According to the BBC, Acting Sergeant Dipprasad Pun was on sentry duty at a checkpoint near Babaji in Helmand province, on September 17 last year when he spotted insurgents trying to plant a bomb beside the front gate.
Moments later, militants opened fire on the compound from all sides.
For more than a quarter of an hour, alone on the roof, the 32-year-old fought off an onslaught from rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s.
In total, he fired over 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine.
At one point, when an insurgent tried to climb up to his position, his rifle failed and he resorted to throwing his machine gun tripod to knock him down.
“As soon as it was confirmed that they were Taliban, I was really scared. But as soon as I opened fire that was gone. I thought ‘before they kill me I have to kill some’,” Dipprasad said. (ANI)
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Tags: ak 47s, babaji, bbc, bomb, bravery medal, checkpoint, conspicuous gallantry, insurgents, london, machine gun, onslaught, pun, rocket propelled grenades, sentry duty, september 17, sergeant, taliban, taliban in afghanistan, tripod