Ladakh: Indian Army soldiers on a highway leading towards Leh in Gagangir (AFP)

New Delhi:

The Army will evacuate two villages in eastern Ladakh close to the Line of Actual Control or LAC amid tension after a deadly face-off between India and China on Monday, sources said on Thursday. Mobile network in border villages has been snapped and the Srinagar-Leh highway has been closed to traffic.

The army has brought in reinforcements in Galwan valley, the site of the clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action, and other areas like Daulat Beg Oldie, Chushul and Depsang.

The clash took place at a point called PP-14 or patrolling point 14 a few kilometres from the LAC, the de-facto border between India and China.

New satellite images from Reuters taken on Tuesday shows a massive build-up on the Chinese side of the LAC. Sources say the army is apprehensive that the Chinese may deploy troops at Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) to build pressure.

The army is reviewing decades-old rules of engagement with China of not opening fire on confronting Chinese troops. The Navy and Air Force are also on alert at the LAC.

On Monday, hundreds of soldiers clashed at a height of 15,000 feet, near the Galwan river. Indian soldiers were assaulted with iron rods, stones wrapped in barbed wire and nail-studded clubs in the fight that started in the afternoon and went on till midnight.

Soldiers were even thrown off a high ridge into the icy Galwan river. About 45 Chinese soldiers were also killed or injured, said army sources. The area also saw violent clashes in 1962, when Indian posts were overrun. But in over five decades, there had been no violence and no active Chinese presence.