India says 20 soldiers killed in hours-long brawl with Chinese military at disputed border

India’s army says 20 of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Chinese troops at a disputed border site in the western Himalayas, in a major escalation of a weeks-long stand-off between the two Asian giants.

China’s foreign ministry confirmed there had been a “violent physical confrontation”, but made no mention of casualties. India’s foreign ministry said there had been casualties on both sides.

An Indian government source said the troops fought with iron rods and stones, but that no shots were fired.

The clashes happened in Ladakh, along a contested border between India and China.

The Indian army initially issued a statement saying three Indian soldiers had died, but later updated the number to 20 and said 17 “were critically injured in the line of duty at the stand-off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain”.

“They attacked with iron rods, the commanding officer was grievously injured and fell, and when that happened, more soldiers swarmed to the area and attacked with stones,” said the Indian government source, who had been briefed on the matter.

The two sides had been discussing ways to de-escalate but at some point the People’s Liberation Army turned on a group of Indian soldiers, the source said. The Chinese side brought in reinforcements and the brawl went on for a couple of hours.

“Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement.

The first statement from the Indian army had said that: “During the de-escalation process under way in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place [last] night with casualties on both sides.”