KATHMANDU: The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is being marked on Friday to commemorate the start of UN peacekeeping operations in West Asia in 1948.

On the occasion, two Nepali peacekeepers will be honored posthumously. According to the UN office in Lalitpur, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will lay a wreath at the UN Headquarters in New York on June 5 in tribute to peacekeepers.

A total of 68 military personnel, police officers, and civilians who lost their lives in the line of duty will be awarded the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal posthumously.

Among them, Nepali peacekeepers Suraj Lamichhane and Deviram Jaishi will also be honored. Nepal is the largest contributor of security personnel to UN peacekeeping missions, with more than 4,300 personnel, including 364 women, deployed worldwide.