Soldiers were unarmed, families say
NEW DELHI: Indian soldiers who died in close combat with Chinese troops last month were unarmed and surrounded by a larger force on a steep ridge, Indian government sources, two soldiers deployed in the area and families of the fallen men said.
One of the Indian soldiers had his throat slit with metal nails in the darkness, his father said.
He said he had been told by another soldier who was there.
Others fell to their deaths in the freezing waters of the Galwan river in the western Himalayas, relatives were told by witnesses.
Twenty Indian soldiers died in the June 15 clash on the de facto border separating the two armies. The soldiers all belonged to the 16th Bihar Regiment deployed in the Galwan region.
No shots were fired, but it was the biggest loss of life in combat between the nucleararmed neighbours since 1967, when the simmering border dispute flared into deadly battles.
Journalists spoke to relatives of 13 of the men who were killed, and in five cases they produced death certificates listing horrific injuries suffered during the sixhour nighttime clash at an altitude of 4267m amid remote, barren mountains.
The military hospital in India's Ladakh region where the bodies were brought declined to comment on the cause of death and said that the bodies were sent to the families, along with the death certificates.
All the families asked for anonymity because they said they were not supposed to speak about military matters.
A China foreign ministry spokesperson repeated previous statements blaming the
Indian side for crossing the de facto border and provoking the Chinese.
``When Chinese officers and soldiers went there to negotiate, they were suddenly and violently attacked by the Indian troops,'' the spokesman said.
``The rights and wrongs of the incident are very clear. The responsibility absolutely does not lie with the Chinese.''
Three of the dead men had their ``arteries ruptured in the neck'' and two sustained head injuries caused by ``sharp or pointed objects’’, the death certificates said. — Reuters