New Delhi: Contrasting figures were available regarding the number of Indian Army soldiers killed Monday night during a violent face-off with Chinese troops. The face-off took place at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.
While some TV channels quoted government sources and said that 20 soldiers have been killed, Press Trust of India put the figure at 10. Among those killed was a colonel. Sources said India retaliated and the Chinese army also suffered casualties. However, there were no official figures available regarding the casualties the Chinese army suffered.
However, some TV channels said more than 40 Chinese soldiers have been killed in the face-off. There was no reaction however, from the Chinese side on this figure. The editor-in-chief of China’s ‘Global Times’ newspaper however, said Tuesday that the country’s arm had suffered casualties.
“Based on what I know, Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash,” Hu Xijin said in a tweet. He did not give further details. The ‘Global Times’ is published by the ‘People’s Daily’, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.
Meanwhile ANI in a tweet said that there 43 casualties on the Chinese side. In the tweet ANI said, “Indian intercepts reveal that Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including dead and seriously injured.
India said the clashes happened ‘as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo there’, rebutting China’s claims that Indian soldiers cross the border. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had earlier lodged a protest with the Indian High Commission in Beijing. China said that Indian soldiers had ‘provoked their Chinese counterparts leading to violent clashes’.
This is the first violent incident involving fatalities since 1975 between India and China. Both side had been involved in a border war in 1962.