‘Status quo’ change

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that the incident happened “as a result of an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo” in the Galwan Valley.

Thousands of soldiers from the two countries, backed by armored trucks and artillery, have been facing off just a few hundred yards apart for more than a month in the Ladakh region near Tibet. Army officers and diplomats have held a series of meetings to try to end the impasse, with no breakthrough.

Indian authorities have officially maintained neartotal silence on the issues related to the confrontation.

Two Indian security officials familiar with latest developments told The Associated Press that soldiers from the two sides engaged in fistfights and stonethrowing, which led to casualties. Both said that no shots were fired by either side. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with government regulations.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not comment on the clash in a televised meeting Tuesday with state officials.

The tense standoff started in early May, when Indian officials said that Chinese soldiers crossed the boundary in Ladakh at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal warnings to leave. That triggered shouting matches, stonethrowing and fistfights, much of it replayed on television news channels and social media.

China has sought to downplay the confrontation while saying the two sides were communicating through both their frontline military units and their respective embassies to resolve issues.

The disputed border covers nearly 2,175 miles of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control.