Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in a fierce clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region.
The Army initially said on Tuesday that an officer and two soldiers were killed. But in a late evening statement, it revised the figure to 20 saying 17 others who “were critically injured in the line of duty and exposed to sub-zero temperatures at the standoff location succumbed to their injuries.”
Government sources said the Chinese side too suffered “proportionate casualties” but chose not to speculate on the number. An ANI source has speculated that at least 43 Chinese soldiers have been seriously injured or killed in the clash.
INDIA LOSES 20 SOLDIERS
Indian Army confirmed that 20 men have died in the clash at Galwan Valley, however, identities of only 3 personnel have been made public till now.
Initially claiming that three men had died in the clash, later the Army said, “17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty at the standoff location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20.”
The officer killed in the clash was identified as Colonel Santosh Babu, Commanding Officer of the 16 Bihar Regiment, and a native of Telangana.
The other soldiers identified were Havaldar K Palani and Sepoy Kundan Ojha from Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand respectively.
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