Army officer, 19 soldiers killed during clash with Chinese troops
New Delhi: At least 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in 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, government sources said.
Multiple sources in government and military establishments confirmed to PTI that more than 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in the fierce clash at Galwan Valley last night that continued for several hours.
The fatalities, the highest in decades, may go up further, they said.
Meanwhile, an Army statement issued in New Delhi says 17 of 20 soldiers dead were critically injured in line of duty at stand-off location, exposed to sub-zero temperatures.
The sources said the Chinese side also suffered “proportionate casualties” but chose not to speculate on the numbers.
Earlier in the day, the Indian Army said India lost an officer and two soldiers during the violent face-off, while there were casualties on the Chinese side as well.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about last night’s clash as well 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.
According to a senior military officer, it is the first incident involving the casualty of an Indian soldier in a violent clash with the Chinese Army after 1975 when four Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh. (PTI)
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