Indian soldiers killed in border clash
Sticks and bricks, not guns, used in deadly brawl with China, officials say
NEW DELHI — A clash high in the Himalayas between the world’s two most populated countries claimed the lives of 20 Indian soldiers in a border region that the two nuclear armed neighbors have disputed for decades, Indian officials said Tuesday.
Preliminary reports Tuesday indicated that the soldiers had not been shot but had been killed in a brawl involving rocks and wooden clubs that was similar to fights that broke out last month along the border and seriously injured several soldiers on both sides.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not comment on the clash in a televised meeting Tuesday with state officials.
The clash in the Ladakh region Monday — during which Indian officials said neither side fired any shots — was the first deadly confrontation between India and China since 1975. Experts said it would be difficult for the two nations to ease heightened tensions.
An Indian military spokesman said that three Indian troops were killed during the fighting and 17 others later succumbed to injuries. A senior Indian army officer said that more than 20 Indian soldiers had also been captured and many might still be in Chinese custody.
Indian officials said they were trying to de-escalate the situation. They had just indicated that tensions with China were calming down after Indian and Chinese troops had faced off at several points high in the Himalayas in the past few weeks. India seemed caught off guard by the new burst of violence, which the two sides blamed on each other.
“During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties,” according to a statement in the Indian news media that was attributed to Indian military officials. “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.”
In Beijing, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, said that Indian forces had twice crossed the border illegally Monday and attacked Chinese personnel. He said the Chinese side had “lodged strong protests” but continued to work toward resolving the tensions between the two countries.
Indian television channels reported that several Chinese soldiers had been killed, as well, citing high-level Indian government sources. But Chinese officials did not comment on that.
Indian military analysts said that a colonel was among those who had died, the fight had erupted on Indian territory and it had involved a large number of troops from each side battling with rocks, clubs and their hands.
The violence is a continuation of a long-running dispute between India and China about the precise location of their jagged Himalayan border, known as the Line of Actual Control.
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia specialist at the Wilson Center, said that the two countries were unlikely to go to war because they cannot “afford a conflict.”
“But let’s be clear: It beggars belief to think that they can magically deescalate after a deadly exchange with such a higher number of fatalities,” he said. “This crisis isn’t ending anytime soon.”