In a major escalation of tensions between India and China, as many as 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in a “violent face off" with Chinese troops in the Galwan area of Ladakh late on Monday, the Indian Army said.
"Seventeen 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 Army said in a late Tuesday statement. It had earlier said one officer and two soldiers were killed.
The seriousness of the clash can be gauged from the fact that this is first time in 45 years that either side has reported casualties during a face-off, despite sharing uneasy ties. The last time casualties were reported was in 1975 in the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh, said Deependra Singh Hooda, a former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army’s Northern command under which Ladakh falls.