New Delhi
A total of 20 Indian Army personnel were killed during a violent clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday night, escalating the already volatile border standoff between the two sides, an army statement said Tuesday.
PTI reported that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about Monday night’s clash as well as the overall situation in eastern Ladakh after he held a high-level meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs.
As per news agency ANI, senior military officials from both sides held a meeting in Galwan Valley to defuse tension.
This is the first time in 45 years that India has suffered casualties in a face-off with China. “17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty at the stand-off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20,” the Indian Army said in a statement late Tuesday.
According to sources, there were casualties on the Chinese side as well. Quoting sources, PTI reported that the Chinese side also suffered “proportionate casualties” but chose not to speculate on the numbers.
As per ANI, Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane’s planned visit to Pathankot military station was cancelled. The news agency quoted Army sources as saying that Major Generals of India and China are talking to defuse the situation in the Galwan Valley. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also reviewed the “current operational situation” in Eastern Ladakh.
For the last five weeks in the Galwan Valley region of Ladakh, large number of troops from India and China were engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation. The report of violent incident comes days after after Gen MM Naravane, Indian Army Chief, said both that armies have begun disengaging from Ladakh’s Galwan Valley region.
