Three Indian soldiers were killed in a “violent faceoff” with Chinese troops on the disputed border, the Indian Army said on Tuesday, reporting the first casualties in 53 years to result from a clash between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Indian government sources said no shots were fired but a physical fight broke out between the two sides with soldiers using batons and throwing stones, which resulted in the casualties.
China blamed India for the clash on Monday and editor of the government-controlled Global Times said the Chinese military had also suffered casualties.
India and China have been locked in a standoff in the Galwan valley in western Himalayas for weeks with both accusing each other of trespassing into the other’s territory.
Talks to pull back hundreds of troops deployed in the remote region have been held over the last ten days but no breakthrough had emerged.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties on both sides,” the Indian army said in a statement.
“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.”
The officer who died was a colonel rank, the sources said.
India and China fought a brief border war in 1962 and have not been unable to settle their border dispute despite talks spread over two decades.
Border guards have had skirmishes, even fisticuffs when patrols have confronted each other, but there has been no loss of life at the border since bloody clashes erupted in the eastern Himalayas in 1967.
The Chinese foreign ministry called on India not to take any unilateral action or stir up trouble.
