20 Army personnel killed in Ladakh after clash with China

At least twenty Indian army personnel have been killed in the faceoff with China last night, reported Asian News International, quoting unnamed government sources. It added that “casualty numbers could rise.”

On Tuesday evening, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has stated that the “violent face-off” on Monday night “happened as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there.”

In a statement sent out by MEA’s spokesperson, Anurag Srivastava added, “India and China have been discussing through military and diplomatic channels the de-escalation of the situation in the border area in Eastern Ladakh.” He added that senior commanders had a meeting on 6 June wherein they agreed on a process of de-escalation.

Earlier, in a statement, the Indian army had 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.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said, “India troops crossed the border line twice on Monday provoking and attacking Chinese personnel resulting in serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides,” reported an international news agency, AFP.

“Indian troops on Monday seriously violated the consensus of the two sides by illegally crossing the border twice and carrying out provocative attacks on Chinese soldiers, resulting in serious physical clashes,” Global Times quoted FM saying.

KW