India says 20 soldiers killed in hours-long brawl with Chinese military at disputed border
ABCIndia's army says 20 of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Chinese troops at a disputed border site in the western Himalayas, in a major escalation of a weeks-long stand-off between the two Asian giants. Key points: An Indian government source said no shots were fired but soldiers attacked each other with rocks and metal bars China accused Indian troops of provoking and attacking its forces Both countries have rival claims to vast swathes of territory along their mountainous border China's foreign ministry confirmed there had been a "violent physical confrontation", but made no mention of casualties. "Both sides suffered casualties that could have been avoided had the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said in a statement. The first statement from the Indian army had said that: "During the de-escalation process under way in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place night with casualties on both sides." "What's shocking is that on June 15, the Indian side severely violated our consensus and twice crossed the border line and provoked and attacked the Chinese forces, causing a violent physical confrontation between the two border forces," Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.