Troops' 'exemplary' conduct hailed amid violent confrontation in Cyprus buffer zone

Hundreds of Household Cavalry troops have been welcomed back to the UK by the Princess Royal after an eventful deployment in Cyprus.

Last month, three of them were assaulted by Turkish Cypriot forces as they tried to stop the construction of an unauthorised road.

Captain John Hutton, of the Household Cavalry Regiment, told Forces News the troops "were absolutely exemplary in the manner that they were able to react under immense pressure from the opposing forces, to prevent a serious and potentially a fatal escalation of violence in the buffer zone."

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The soldiers had spent almost half a year deployed on Operation TOSCA, Britain's contribution to the UN peacekeeping force patrolling 24/7 along the buffer zone that separates the Greek and Turkish parts of the island.

Capt Hutton added: "Quite a strenuous tour, all in all. It was a highly complex operating environment that we dealt with across the mobile force reserve and the operations company.

"The incidents were, in themselves, the most kinetic that they had been in the buffer zone in over 20 years."

The Household Cavalry troops have now swapped Cyprus for Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire.

Around 260 troops in their blue UN berets paraded before Princess Anne who awarded them medals for their service on the peacekeeping mission as family and friends watched on.

Joining the soldiers on the parade square was the Army's new Ajax vehicle, which will be central to their upcoming training.