-Indian colonel, 20 troops killed in violent clash with Chinese Forces
-Colonel Santosh Babu, Commanding Officer of an Infantory battalion killed alognwith two soldiers by Chinese troops in hand-to-hand battle at LAC in Ladakh
-34 more Indian soldiers missing, either killed or captured by PLA troops
DM Monitoring
LADAKH: At least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Chinese forces in Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir region, Indian officials say.
The incident follows rising tensions, and is the first deadly clash in the border area in at least 45 years.
The Indian army initially said three of its soldiers had been killed, adding that both sides suffered casualties.
But later on Tuesday, officials a number of critically injured soldiers had died of their wounds.
India’s external affairs ministry accused China of breaking an agreement struck the previous week to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley.
According to the Indian statement, “a violent face-off happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there”.
China did not confirm any casualties, but accused India in turn of crossing the border onto the Chinese side.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said India had crossed the border twice on Monday, “provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides”, a western news agency reported.
Local media outlets reported that the Indian soldiers had been “beaten to death” but there was no confirmation from the military. China’s Global Times newspaper reported that “solemn representations” had been made with India over the incident. The LAC is in reality poorly demarcated. The presence of rivers, lakes and snowcaps means the line can shift. The soldiers either side – representing two of the world’s largest armies – come face to face at many points.
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Both sides insist no bullet has been fired in four decades, and the Indian army said on Tuesday that “no shots were fired” in this latest skirmish. There have been tense confrontations between the two nuclear powers along the border in recent weeks.
India has accused China of sending thousands of troops into Ladakh’s Galwan valley and says China occupies 38,000sq km (14,700sq miles) of its territory. Several rounds of talks in the last three decades have failed to resolve the boundary disputes. The two countries have fought only one war so far, in 1962, when India suffered a humiliating defeat. In May, dozens of Indian and Chinese soldiers exchanged physical blows in a clash on the border in the north-eastern state of Sikkim.
And in 2017, the two countries clashed in the region after China tried to extend a border road through a disputed plateau. There are several reasons why tensions are rising now – but competing strategic goals lie at the root, and both sides blame each other.
India has built a new road in what experts say is the most remote and vulnerable area along the LAC in Ladakh. And India’s decision to ramp up infrastructure seems to have infuriated Beijing. The road could boost Delhi’s capability to move men and materiel rapidly in case of a conflict. India also disputes part of Kashmir – an ethnically diverse Himalayan region covering about 140,000sq km – with Pakistan. Indian and Chinese troops clashed with iron rods and stones at their disputed border, resulting in casualties on both sides including the death of three Indian soldiers, Indian officials said on Tuesday, in a major escalation of a weeks-old standoff.
China and India traded accusations as to who was to blame for the face-off in the snow deserts of Ladakh in the western Himalayas on Monday. No shots were fired, an Indian government source said. The deaths were the first since the last major border clash in 1967 between the nuclear-armed Asian giants and world’s two most populous countries which have not been able to settle the dispute along their vast frontier.
Since early May, hundreds of soldiers have fronted up against each other at three locations, each side accusing the other of trespassing. On Monday night, a small group of soldiers came to blows in the Galwan Valley, Indian officials said.
“During the de-escalation process under way in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties on both sides,” the Indian army said in a statement. “The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers. Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.”
The officer who died was a colonel, the government source said. The two sides had been discussing ways to de-escalate but at some point the People’s Liberation Army turned on a group of Indian soldiers, the source said. “They attacked with iron rods, the commanding officer was grievously injured and fell, and when that happened, more soldiers swarmed to the area and attacked with stones,” said the source, who had been briefed on the matter.
The Chinese side brought in reinforcements and the brawl went on for a couple of hours, the source said. “Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said there was a serious violation of a consensus reached by the two countries. “What’s shocking is that on June 15, the Indian side severely violated our consensus and twice crossed the border line and provoked and attacked the Chinese forces, causing a violent physical confrontation between the two border forces,” Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.
“China is raising strong opposition and stern representations to the Indian side on this,” he said. There was no information provided on any casualties. India and China fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962 and distrust has occasionally led to flare-ups ever since. Border guards have had skirmishes and fist fights when patrols have confronted each other, but there has been no loss of life at the border since 1967.
“This is extremely, extremely serious, this is going to vitiate whatever dialogue was going on,” former Indian army commander D. S. Hooda said. Military experts say that one reason for the face-off is that India has been building roads and airfields to improve connectivity and narrow the gap with China’s far superior infrastructure.
At Galwan, India completed a road leading to an airfield last October. The Chinese side have asked India to stop all construction. India says it is operating on its side of the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border. The editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times newspaper said the Chinese military had suffered losses in the latest clash, though it was unclear whether those were deaths or wounded. “Based on what I know, the Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash,” Hu Xijin said in a tweet. He did not give further details. The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.
