Indian colonel among 20 killed in violent face-off with Chinese soldiers in Ladakh

NEW DELHI – Indian army has acknowledged that 20 of its personnel, including a Colonel, were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese soldiers at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

According to India's NDTV, senior military officials from both sides are meeting to defuse the situation. Army sources told the Indian media that the soldiers were not shot but were killed in a physical fight on Indian Territory that involved stones and batons.

Indian army initially said three of its soldiers have been killed.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a regular press briefing in Beijing today said that Indian troops seriously violated the consensus and twice crossed the border line for illegal activities.

They provoked and attacked Chinese personnel which led to serious physical conflict between the two sides.

He said China has lodged strong protest and representation with the India side.

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The China-India border dispute covers nearly 3,500 kilometers (2,175 miles) of frontier that the two countries call the Line of Actual Control. They fought a war in 1962 that spilled into Ladakh. The two sides have been trying since the early 1990s to settle their dispute without success.

China claims about 90,000 square kilometers (35,000 square miles) of territory under New Delhi’s control.