Monitor News Bureau
Srinagar: As the situation in Ladakh has witnessed an unprecedented turn with the killing of three Indian Army personnel including a Colonel in violent standoff with China, media reports Tuesday said that there were no gunshots fired and the deaths happened in violent physical skirmishes.
Quoting sources, NDTV reported that “no bullets were fired but batons, stones, and physical skirmishes took place between the two armies”.
It said there were fatalities on both sides.
“Significant casualties on the Chinese end,” NDTV reported.
It added that “Major General level” talks were currently on to “diffuse” the heightened tension.
Earlier in the day, an Indian Army officer and two soldiers have been killed in Galwan Valley in Ladakh during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. 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,” read an official statement from Indian Army.
The fresh incident points out to the worsening situation between India and china along the Ladakh LAC.
Reports said the Army will hold a press conference later today.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, as per ANI, called on India “to not take unilateral actions or stir up trouble.”
News agency AFP ran with this ticker: Beijing accuses India of crossing border, ‘attacking Chinese personnel’.
An official said the standoff resulted in casualties on both sides, however, the same was not officialy confirmed.
Reports said it was the first combat casualties on the LAC since 1975.
India shares a 3,488-km border with China while Ladakh shares 646 Km of the LAC with the neighboring country. Jammu and Kashmir is the only place in the country which shares its borders with both Pakistan and China.
