NEW DELHI: An officer and two soldiers of Indian Army were killed along the India-China border in a violent face-off with Chinese military on Tuesday.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties on both sides.
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,” the Indian Army said in a statement on Tuesday.
The incident came even as officials from both the sides were engaged in resolving the the dispute over Chinese military buildup in the region.
The talks had made substantial progress with disengagement between Indian and Chinese troops at more locations where they had been in standoff positions for last many weeks.
Sources said that after the June 6 talks between military commanders followed by other rounds of talks, there has not been any considerable build-up activity by both sides and Chinese aggressive behaviour has also been toned down, they said.
At the military commanders’ talks between the two Armies, they had agreed to hold parleys at the Patrolling point 14 (Galwan area), Patrolling point 15 and Hot Springs area.
The Chinese Army had earlier pulled back its troops from the Galwan valley, PP-15 and Hot Springs in Eastern Ladakh area by 2 to 2.5 kilometres, they said.
The Indian side has also brought back some of its troops and vehicles from these areas. Sources said talks are being held on these points at the Battalion commander level on these locations and they have had hotline talks with their counterparts.
The initial talks were being held in those areas.
The Chinese activities had started in Eastern Ladakh from this location only, they said.
(With inputs from ANI)
