China attacked ‘unarmed’ Indian soldiers in Ladakh
KIN OF SLAIN TROOPS REVEAL FATAL INJURIES DURING BATTLE AT BORDER
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 Indian soldier had his throat slit with metal nails in the darkness, his father said, saying he had been told by a fellow soldier who was there.
Others fell to their deaths in the freezing waters of the Galwan river in the western Himalayas, relatives have learned from 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 that was deployed in the Galwan region.
No shots were fired, but it was the biggest loss of life in combat between the neighbours since 1967, when the simmering border dispute flared into deadly battles.
Reuters spoke to kin of 13 of the men who were killed, and in five cases they produced death certificates listing horrific injuries suffered during the six-hour night-time clash at 14,000ft amid remote, barren mountains.
Reuters contacted the military hospital in India’s Ladakh region where the bodies were brought. The hospital declined to comment on the cause of death and said the bodies were sent to the families, along with the death certificates.
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 seen by Reuters said.
There were visible marks on the neck and forehead, all five documents said.
“It was a free-for-all, they fought with whatever they could lay their hands on – rods, sticks, and even with their bare hands,” said an official in Delhi briefed on the clash.
Reuters also spoke to two soldiers of the Bihar Regiment deployed in the area, who were among those who accompanied the bodies of fallen colleagues to their homes in the area. They were not directly involved in the melee.
The soldiers cannot be named because of military rules and all the families asked for anonymity because they said they were not supposed to speak about military matters.
The Indian defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the fighting on June 15. Indian government officials said the conflict began when the commanding officer of the Bihar regiment led a small party to Patrol Point 14 to verify whether the Chinese had made good their promise to withdraw from the disputed site and dismantle structures they had built there.
But instead they came under attack by Chinese soldiers using iron rods and wooden clubs with nails studded in them.
A relative of one of the soldiers who accompanied Colonel Santosh Babu, the commanding officer, to the site of two tents erected by the Chinese troops said members of the Indian patrol were unarmed. They were confronted by a small group of Chinese soldiers and an argument ensued over the tents and a small observation tower the relative said.
Government officials in New Delhi briefed on the incident said at some point Indian troops took down the observation post and the tents because they were on India’s side of the LAC.
Soon after the Indian side came under attack from a large Chinese force that attacked them with sharp-edged weapons, according to the families of three dead Indian soldiers.
One of the soldiers deployed in the area said the Indian patrol was outnumbered by the PLA. “The Chinese side overwhelmed us by sheer numbers,” said the soldier. (Reuters)