Col. Santosh Babu and 19 other Indian soldiers were brutally killed by Chinese soldiers in Galwan valley.
"Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at the Galwan area where they had earlier clashed on the night of 15/16 June 2020. 17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty at the stand-off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the total that were killed in action to 20,” an official army statement said.
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"The Indian Army is firmly committed to protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation," the official release said.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has blamed China for the incident and alleged that it tried to unilaterally change the status and "departed from the consensus to respect the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley".
The event happened in late-night on June 15, when the Indian side attempted to repel Chinese soldiers who were trying to unilaterally change the status quo.
In 1962, 33 Indian soldiers were killed by the People’s Liberation Army of China in the same Galwan river valley and several were taken hostage which resulted in the Indo-China war.
The Eastern Ladakh standoff is of a much more serious nature, with over 6000 Chinese troops lined up with tanks and artillery, faced off with larger Indian forces. Troop buildup has also been reported across the borders in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Arunachal.
The loss of 20 Indian soldiers and others swept by the current of the river proved to be painful for the entire country with many clamoring for an all-out war with China. The Indian cricket fraternity was also pained by the loss of brave Indian army personnel and paid condolences on Twitter.
Here are some tweets: