Agartala, Oct 26 : Troopers of the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), who played a key role in curbing terrorism in the state, have bagged all the 14 top positions in the Police Commando Instructor Course (PCIC) at the National Security Guards (NSG) campus in Manesar, Haryana.

"The daredevil TSR troopers bagged all 14 top positions in the 75-day course held earlier this month at the NSG academy in Manesar," Deputy Inspector General Nepal Das told IANS Monday.

"The TSR jawans outshone their counterparts from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Assam, Delhi and Chhattisgarh in quick shooting, commando actions, running and other events."

The course ended Oct 21 and they returned home Oct 24.

Congratulating the troopers, Tripura police chief Pranay Sahay asked the elite combatants to train other TSR personnel group by group so that any extremist elements in the northeastern state bordering Bangladesh could be thwarted.

"The TSR's formation and training have been modelled on the Border Security Force (BSF) and Assam Rifles. Over the years, the elite state force has increasingly become a key combatant force to flush out the militancy from this hilly state," Sahay said.

TSR runs its own counter-insurgency and jungle guerrilla warfare institute at Kachucherra in Dhalai district in northern Tripura, similar to the army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) at Vairengte in western Mizoram.

The TSR was constituted in 1984 to counter terrorism in the northeastern state -- 75 percent of its soldiers are from Tripura while the rest are from across the country. At present, there are 12 TSR battalions and one more is being raised.

Of the 13 battalions, nine are Indian Reserve battalions -- which means they could be deployed anywhere in India. (IANS)