Jammu, Oct 1 (IANS): The Rashtriya Rifles (RR) on Thursday celebrated its silver jubilee, completing 25 years of fighting insurgency in the country.

Colonel S.D. Goswami, spokesman of army's Udhampur headquartered northern command told IANS in winter capital that the Rashtriya Rifles celebrated its silver jubilee on Thursday.

"It was raised on October 1, 1990 by the then chief of army staff General V.N. Sharma. Three of the six Rashtriya Rifles battalions initially raised were deployed in Punjab and three in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Impetus was given by General B.C. Joshi under whom major expansion took place including a Rashtriya Rifles sector being raised in the North East. Later, all Rashtriya Rifles battalions moved to J&K and since then, Rashtriya Rifles has been engaged in low intensity conflict in J&K only. The present Director General of Rashtriya Rifles is Lieutenant General Sandeep Singh.

"The continuous employment of army in Counter Insurgency duties along with existing conventional threat warranted a specially structured and organised force to deal with India's internal security situation.

"A credible force was required to be raised to deal with frequent deployment of army's formations and units in internal security, which could also provide support to the Indian Army during conventional conflicts.

"Rashtriya Rifles was raised with 100 percent personnel on deputation from the Indian Army, from all arms and services...Rashtriya Rifles has so far neutralized a total of 16,368 terrorists, which includes 8,522 killed, 6,737 apprehended and 1,109 surrendered.

"The force has recovered a huge quantity of warlike stores till date. In J&K, the Rashtriya Rifles force headquarters are Delta, Romeo, Uniform in 16 Corps zone and Victor and Kilo in 15 corps zone.

"Honours and awards won by Rashtriya Rifles Force include six Ashok Chakras, 34 Kirti Chakras, 221 Shaurya Chakras and 1,508 Sena Medals."