China accuses India of starting ‘serious physical conflict’ at LAC, quiet on further details

The Indian army said the clash took place at a time the “de-escalation process” was “underway in the Galwan valley.”

  

China on Tuesday accused the Indian army of provoking and attacking Chinese soldiers after a border meeting to de-escalate the ongoing tension, leading to a “physical conflict” between the two sides on Monday.”

These are the first Indian casualties in a clash with the PLA s ince 1975 when an Indian patrol was ambushed by Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh.

HT learns that the officer is the commanding officer of the unit involved in the scrap, and that one of the other casualties is that of a JCO.

The Indian army said the incident took place at a time the “de-escalation process” was “underway in the Galwan valley”. Senior “military officials of the two sides are currently meeting to defuse the situation”, the army said, signalling that the efforts to stabilise the situation is still work in progress.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it was not aware of Indian soldiers being killed in the exchanges. Neither did it say anything about casualties on its side.