Indian Army says 20 of its soldiers killed in Chinese troop border clash in Galwan
- Sources say there are more casualties on both sides from a brawl where rocks and sticks were used
- Beijing accused India of ‘provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces’
“Seventeen Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty at the standoff location and exposed to the sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20,” the army said in a statement late on Tuesday.
The two sides had disengaged at the Galwan area where they had clashed, the statement added.
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Death toll rises to 20 in border clash between India and China
The deaths are the first fatalities in four decades of simmering conflict along the 3,488km undemarcated border between the nuclear-armed neighbours, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
While Indian media reported that Chinese soldiers had been killed, Chinese officials did not confirm this as they laid the blame on India for the incident.
Zhang Shuili, the spokesman for China’s Western Theatre Command, which oversees the country’s westernmost regions, including Xinjiang and Tibet, said Indian troops had “failed their promise and again crossed the LAC illegally”.
“They have deliberately provoked attacks which have then led to intense physical clashes between both sides, leading to casualties and deaths,” Zhang said.