"Violent face-off" on Monday night with Chinese troops at Galwan Vally in Ladakh
"There was no firing. No firearms were used. It was violent hand-to-hand scuffles," an unnamed officer was quoted by news agency.
The army statement said: "During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties on both sides. 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."
An Indian Colonel and two soldiers were killed in a "violent face-off" on Monday night with Chinese troops at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, in a massive escalation at a time there were efforts to defuse weeks of tension at the border. India retaliated and there were casualties on both sides, said the army. Army sources say the soldiers were not shot but were killed in a physical fight on Indian Territory that involved stones and batons. Major Generals of both sides are meeting in attempts to de-escalate tension, according to an official statement. This is the first violent incident involving fatalities since 1975 between India and China, who fought a brief border war in 1962.war in 1962.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, the three military chiefs and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Although, according to sources in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office, his scheduled meeting with Chief Ministers via video conferencing on COVID-19 will be held as planned.
For more than six weeks now soldiers from both sides have been engaged in a stand-off at least two locations along the Line of Actual Control -- the 3,488 km de-facto boundary between India and China, and have rushed additional troops to the border. They have been facing each other at the Galwan River, which was one of the early triggers of the 1962 India-China war, and at the disputed Pangong Tso -- a glacial lake at 14,000 feet in the Tibetan plateau, portions of which are claimed by both.
After weeks of face-off including an incident in which patrolling soldiers clashed on the banks of Pangong Lake, resulting in injuries, friction eased following talks. Indian and Chinese military commanders had been in talks in Galwan Valley area and Hot Springs.
The Chinese Army had earlier pulled back its troops from the Galwan valley, PP-15 and Hot Springs in Eastern Ladakh area. The Indian side also brought back some of its troops and vehicles from these areas.
China has been upset about the Indian construction of roads and air strips in the area. The government has pushed for improving connectivity and by 2022, 66 key roads along the Chinese border will have been built. One of these roads is near the Galwan valley that connects to Daulat Beg Oldi air base, which was inaugurated last October.
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