The peacekeepers sacrificed their lives during UN peacekeeping operations in Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan last year.

They are Lance Corporal SM Miraz Ahmed, Lance Corporal Abdul Halim, Private Kamrozzaman Khan, Private Mohammed Miah, Private Md Mizanur Rahman, Lance Corporal Abdus Sattar, Private Amir Hossain and Lance Corporal Faruk Miah.

UN Under-Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Marie Guehenno on Wednesday handed over the medals to Brig General Ilyas Iftekhar Rasul, defence adviser in Bangladesh permanent mission to the United Nations, at a ceremony at the UN Library auditorium in New York.

Guehenno expressed his profound gratitude to 107 deceased peacekeepers from 46 countries for their courage and selflessness, according to a message received in Dhaka yesterday.

Acclaiming the UN peacekeeping as a powerful expression of the extraordinary vision of international solidarity for peace, Guehenno extended his gratitude to the troop contributing member states for their unique and vital endeavour.

Earlier, on Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to the memory of 107 peacekeepers who lost their lives in 2006 and pledged to safeguard the security of those now in operations across the world.

At present, more than 9,600 Bangladeshi soldiers and police officers are serving in the UN peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Georgia-Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, East Timor and the Western Sahara.