The Indian Army on Tuesday confirmed that two soldiers and an Colonel have been killed in a “violent face-off” at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, following weeks of rising tensions and the deployment of thousands of extra troops from both sides.
Brawls and face-offs flare on a fairly regular basis between the two nuclear-armed giants over their 3,500-kilometer (2,200-mile) frontier, which has never been properly demarcated, but no one has been killed in decades.
The Indian Army said that there were “casualties on both sides,” but Beijing made no mention of any deaths or injuries as it swiftly laid the blame squarely on India for the incident.
“A violent face-off took place yesterday (Monday) night with casualties on both sides. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers,” an Indian Army spokesman said in a statement.
“Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.” An Indian Army officer based in the region said that there had been no shooting, and that the officer killed had been a colonel.