NEW DELHI, Jan 29: India on Thursday said it was sending more combat-ready women troops to Liberia to join UN peacekeepers in the war-ravaged country.

The unit would be the third all-female Indian contingent since 2007 to carry out law enforcement for the UN peacekeeping force in Liberia (UNMIL), the Central Reserve Police force said in New Delhi.

The 103-member contingent will leave for the western African country on February 3 and 17, a spokesman for the Indian paramilitary force told AFP.

Unit commander Annie Abraham said 80 per cent of her troops were mothers and added that two had fought Sri Lankan Tamil separatist rebels in the 1980s when India sent peacekeepers to the island nation.

Ms Abraham said her troops, aged between 27 and 43, had been trained for the first time in close combat.

“This third women battalion heading for Liberia has been trained in all firearms like the other contingents but looking at our past experience in dealing with crowds, we have also given small arms training,” she said.

The UN Security Council in September last year extended the 13,934-strong UNMIL’s mandate for one year but said the force would be downsized.

In April, UNMIL began scaling back its presence after a UN and government conclusion in 2007 that Liberia was gradually moving towards peace and stability.

The UN sent 15,000 troops into Liberia in 2003 after 14 years of civil war that claimed roughly 270,000 lives.—AFP