At least 20 Indian Army personnel killed in face-off with China in Ladakh
At least 20 Indian Army personnel were killed in a violent clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley on Monday night (June 16)
FollowNew Delhi: According to reports, at least 20 Army personnel were killed in a  face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh's Galwan Valley.
Earlier, it was reported that one colonel-rank officer and two soldiers of the Indian Army were killed. However, the new reports suggest almost 20 Army personnel lost their lives.
The sources said the Chinese side also suffered "proportionate casualties" but chose not to speculate on the numbers.
Meanwhile, defence minister Rajnath  Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about last night's clash as well the overall situation in eastern Ladakh after he held a high-level meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and the three service chiefs.
According to a senior military officer, it is the first incident involving the casualty of an Indian soldier in a violent clash with the Chinese Army after 1975 when four Indian soldiers were killed in an ambush at Tulung La in Arunachal Pradesh.
For more than six weeks now soldiers from both sides have been engaged in a stand-off at least two locations along the Line of Actual Control -- the 3,488 km de-facto boundary between India and China, and have rushed additional troops to the border.
