NEW DELHI: The Army on Thursday put to rest speculations about 10 soldiers being missing after the ‘violent face-off’ in eastern Ladakh on June 15. There were reports that 10 Army personnel including two Majors were held captive by Chinese military.
“It is clarified that there are no Indian troops Missing in Action,” the Army said. The statement was issued in the wake of the article ‘In China - India Clash, Two Nationalist Leaders with Little Room to Give’ by the New York Times dated June 17.
The Army also provided updates on the condition of the soldiers injured in the brutal hand-to-hand clash in the Galwan Valley. “Four soldiers were critically injured and their condition is stable now. There are 18 more injured but we are managing their treatment in Leh,” it said.
Military sources said a total of 76 Army personnel were brutally assaulted by the Chinese army on Monday out of which 18 were seriously injured while 58 sustained minor injuries.
The 18 seriously injured personnel are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Leh while 58 are admitted to various other hospitals and they will be fit to join their unit in a week or 10 days, an army official said.
Meanwhile, the Division Commanders of the two sides met again, for the seventh time, to diffuse the ongoing standoff.
In the dialogue at Patrol Point 14, both sides discussed ways to implement the disengagement of troops from the region as agreed to during a high-level military dialogue on June 6, sources said, adding there was not much progress in the talks.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops had encircled and assaulted the Indian troops who had gone to verify the compliance of agreement arrived on June 6 between the Corps Commanders of the two sides on the matter of standoff at 4 locations along the Line of Actual Control.
“The Chinese were supposed to move back from the area where they had pitched tents but instead they had erected a new tent. Initially, when the Commanding officer of the Unit of the area asked them about the new tent those present they ran away and came back with a bigger number of soldiers and started hitting with rods, stick and stones,” a source said.