A 13-member mobile medical unit from Taiwan left New Delhi Monday to provide free treatment to poor inhabitants of the Darjeeling and Sikkim areas on the northern tip of India.

Separatist rebels ambushed a paramilitary vehicle Monday killing five soldiers in India's insurgency-wracked northeastern state of Manipur, an army official said.

Suspected militants set off two bombs outside a police station in India's restive northeast on Sunday, killing seven people and wounding more than 50, police said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for the United States on Saturday with talks on terrorism and the global economy expected to dominate the agenda.

The government promised Friday to ensure that sugar cane farmers do not suffer as it sought to defuse a major row over pricing that has stalled parliamentary proceedings.

India has scrapped tenders to import rice, saying it has enough stocks to manage despite a harvest shortfall following the worst monsoon in almost four decades.

A passenger train derailed after Maoist rebels blew up a key track in eastern India, killing one person and injuring at least 30 others, a police official said Friday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday said India would take all necessary steps to safeguard its nuclear facilities as the country tightened security in the wake of fresh fears over possible attacks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in New Delhi Monday for talks on a stalled trans-national gas pipeline and a possible Indian prime ministerial visit to Iran, officials said.

Watchtowers and close-circuit televisions will help secure the Taj Mahal, one of the world's most visited monuments, as the busy tourist season begins in India, a senior police officer said.