Tuesday, June 16, 2020

At least three Indian soldiers were killed "during the de-escalation process" with China over an ongoing border dispute

Al Jazeera:
Three Indian army personnel, including a commanding officer, have been killed in a "violent face-off" with Chinese soldiers in the Himalayan region of Ladakh, an Indian army spokesman has said.

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"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," the Indian army spokesman said in a statement.

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Tensions flare on a fairly regular basis between the two regional powers over their 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) frontier, which has never been properly demarcated.
AFP:
Brawls erupt regularly between the two nuclear-armed giants across their disputed 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) frontier, but no one has been killed in decades.

But the Indian army said there were "casualties on both sides"

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An Indian army officer in the region told AFP that there had been no shooting in the incident, on precipitous, rocky terrain in the strategically important Galwan Valley.

"It was violent hand-to-hand scuffles,"

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India and China have never even agreed on the length of their "Line of Actual Control" frontier, and each side uses different frontier proposals made by Britain to China in the 19th century to back their claims.
Telegraph:
Army sources told the Daily Telegraph the death toll after the intense fighting in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh stood at 13. They reported 32 Indian soldiers had been captured and handed back, and that four were still missing.