New Delhi: An Indian Army officer and two soldiers were killed in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night during a violent face off with the Chinese troops, the Army said.
They said senior military officials of the two sides are holding a meeting in Galwan Valley to defuse tension.
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"During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place on Monday night with casualties. The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers," the Army said in a brief statement.
After 1975 this is the first violent incident on the India-China border in which casualties have taken place.
A large number of Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation in Galwan Valley for the last five weeks.
The incident comes days after Indian Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said both sides have begun disengaging from Galwan Valley.
India and China are engaged in a standoff at multiple points along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh where the Chinese People's Liberation Army has amassed over 10,000 troops with its heavy artillery and armoured regiments on its side of the LAC.
India has also now matched the deployment done by the Chinese and after the talks between the two sides at the multiple levels, they have even disengaged and gone back from their positions by a couple of kilometres.
The first standoff began on May 5th when Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed at Pangong Tso, which is a lake that extends from India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China, with the LAC passing through it.
With inputs from agencies
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