After Army Chief Gen M M Naravane on Saturday said that the military talks between India and China over Ladakh have been "very fruitful", and both the armies are "disengaging" in a phased manner, on Monday night a violent face-off took place and an Indian Army Colonel, the Commanding Officer of an infantry battalion, and two soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley.
"During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place yesterday night with casualties. 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," read the official statement from the Indian Army.
According to reports, there are casualties on both sides. It was a physical fight and no shots were fired, the reports added.
Beijing has accussed India of crossing border, attacking Chinese personnel, reported AFP.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, the three service chiefs and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar and the recent developments in Eastern Ladakh were discussed, ANI reported.
Meanwhile, veteran defence journalist Ajai Shukla, who has been tracking developments, wrote: "Now hearing that the casualty count on the Indian side is significantly higher than what the initial reports stated. Also, many Indian soldiers captured and then released, an Indian major still held by the Chinese."
Gen M M Naravane had on Saturday said that the entire situation was under control along India's borders with China. "Both sides are disengaging in a phased manner. We have started from the north, from the area of the Galwan river where a lot of disengagement has taken place. It has been a very fruitful dialogue that we have had. As I said, it will go on and the situation will improve as we go on," he had said.
"I would like to assure everyone that the entire situation along our borders with China is under control. We are having a series of talks which started with corps commander level talks which was followed up with meetings at the local level between commanders of equivalent ranks," Naravane added.
The two armies were locked in an over five-week standoff in Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie in eastern Ladakh. A sizeable number of Chinese Army personnel even transgressed into the Indian side of the de-facto border in several areas including Pangong Tso.
Following the standoff in eastern Ladakh, the two sides have deployed additional troops along the LAC, the de-facto Sino-India border, in North Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh in the last few days.
(With PTI inputs)
