20 soldiers including a Colonel have been killed in the line of duty in Ladakh

New Delhi:

Seventy-six soldiers of the army, who were injured during the clash with Chinese troops at Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on Monday evening are at various hospitals, sources have told NDTV. None of them are critical at the moment and all of them should be able to get back on duty, sources said.

Of the injured soldiers, 18 are at the hospital in Leh who are expected at their posts within 15 days. The remaining 56 are spread across other hospitals, who can join work in a week, the sources said.

Twenty soldiers had died in the clash on Monday evening that started after the Indian troops, led by Colonel BK Santosh Babu, tried to remove a tent belonging to Chinese troops.

The Indian soldiers were attacked with iron rods, nail-studded clubs and rocks wrapped in barbed wire in the fight near Patrol Point 14 — a vantage point in Indian territory that overlooks Chinese positions on their side of the Line of Actual Control, which is the de-facto border between India and China.

Though Beijing has given no official figure, army sources said at least 45 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured.

Earlier today, after newspaper reports discussed the possibility of some Indian soldiers being in Chinese custody, the army said all the soldiers involved in the deadly clash have now been accounted for.

Without commenting on the reports in The Hindu, the Army, said, ”It is clarified that there are no Indian troops missing in action”.

Talks between the two armies, however, remained inconclusive for the second consecutive day today. A Major General of the Army started the second round of talks today.

India has made it clear that it expects China to reassess its actions and take corrective steps. In a telephonic conversation yesterday, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar  also told his China counterpart that the unprecedented development “will have a serious impact on the bilateral relationship”.

High resolution satellite images in possession of NDTV indicate Chinese attempts to block or disturb the flow of the icy Galwan river — located 15,000 feet above the sea level — less than a kilometer from the site of the violent face-off.

The images clearly show Chinese bulldozers operating on their side of the LAC, at a spot where the river’s flow appears to change.

This afternoon, thousands attended the funeral of Colonel BK Santosh Babu, which was carried out with full military honours in in Telangana.