印中邊境再起衝突 印度一上校兩士兵死亡

Army Colonel, 2 jawans killed in violent face-off with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan Valley

Abhishek Bhalla

A Colonel-rank officer and two soldiers of the Indian Army were killed in a "violent face-off" with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley area of Ladakh on Monday night. The officer was commanding an infantry battalion of the Army. The face-off took place during efforts to de-escalate the prevailing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

Casualities have also taken place on the Chinese side, the Army said.

In an official statement, the Army said, "During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, 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."

The statement added that senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation.

Details of what exactly led to the violent face-off are not clear at the moment. Speaking to India Today TV, defence sources privy to the development said no bullets were fired during the face-off. The sources said stones and metal clubs were used to attack the soldiers and they succumbed to their injuries.

Meanwhile in New Delhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, the three service chiefs and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar to discuss the recent developments in eastern Ladakh.

This major development comes at a time when Indian and Chinese troops are involved in a massive stand-off in eastern Ladakh for the past one-and-a-half-month.

Since early May, significant numbers of Chinese troops have been camping in the Indian side of the LAC in Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso lake area.

Indian and Chinese troops have been engaged in bitter standoffs in several areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in mountainous eastern Ladakh recently. Both the countries are holding talks at military and diplomatic levels to resolve the dispute.

The trigger for the face-off was China's stiff opposition to India laying a key road in the Finger area around the Pangong Tso Lake besides construction of another road connecting the Darbuk-Shayok-Daulat Beg Oldie road in the Galwan Valley.

China was also laying a road in the Finger area which is not acceptable to India.

Meanwhile, in the past month, the Indian Army has sent reinforcements including troops, vehicles and artillery guns to eastern Ladakh to shore up its presence in the areas where Chinese soldiers were resorting to aggressive posturing.

The situation in eastern Ladakh deteriorated after around 250 Chinese and Indian soldiers were engaged in a violent face-off on the evening of May 5 which spilt over to the next day before the two sides agreed to "disengage".

However, the standoff has continued since then despite several meetings of the local military commanders.

The incident in Pangong Tso was followed by a similar incident in North Sikkim on May 9.

The India-China border dispute covers the 3,488-km-long LAC. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet while India contests it.

Both sides have been asserting that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, it is necessary to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas.

中國走鋼線

開埋越南夠腳組隊圍揪支那

梗係支那豬發爛渣失控啦

全部精神病　

又想轉移視線

大家估下幾時真開火