Days after the deadly June 15 night brawl in the Galwan Valley, India has completed construction of a strategically important bridge over the Galwan river in eastern Ladakh, reported India Today.
According to a report by India Today, the 60-meter bridge was finished on Thursday afternoon. The bridge over the Galwan River provides Indian military units sharper access to points near the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Reports have claimed that the construction of the bridge was one of the reasons behind the aggressive behaviour by China's People's Liberation Army in the region that triggered the six-week standoff between the two sides. The bridge is around four kilometres east of the confluence of Shyok and Galwan rivers, and links the narrow mountainous region to the Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi road.
On June 15, a violent clash between the two militaries took place in which a Colonel and 19 other Indian Army personnel were killed. China has not yet talked about the number of casualties it suffered during the cross border clash, the worst in 45 years.
The clash in Galwan Valley is the biggest confrontation between the two militaries after their 1967 clashes in Nathu La when India lost around 80 soldiers while the death toll on the Chinese side was over 300. The Chinese soldiers used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Galwan.
