Updated at 10:08 a.m. ET
India's army says three of its troops, including an army officer, have been killed in a "violent faceoff" with Chinese soldiers — in the first deadly confrontation in decades on the two countries' disputed border.
The fighting, which happened Monday night and was confirmed by Indian officials early Tuesday, follows weeks of scuffles between Indian and Chinese troops stationed on both sides of their border, as well as high-level military talks to try to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The India-China border is the world's longest unmarked frontier, stretching about 2,500 miles, part of it through rough terrain high in the Himalayas. The two countries fought a border war there in 1962, and engaged in another military standoff in 2017, over Chinese construction of a road on the Doklam plateau, which is also claimed by India's ally Bhutan. India and China have been trying to settle their border dispute since the early 1990s, with no resolution.
On Tuesday, the Indian army said the confrontation with soldiers of the People's Liberation Army took place the previous night in the Galwan Valley area of India's Ladakh region, which borders China. Last August, the Indian government changed Ladakh's status, separating it from the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and making it a separate union territory — including a section of terrain that's claimed by China.
"The loss of lives on the Indian side includes an officer and two soldiers," the Indian army said in a statement. "Senior military officials of the two sides are currently meeting at the venue to defuse the situation."
Indian media quoted unnamed military officials as saying the Indian casualties were not shot, and that their injuries were from blows from stones and batons.
China accused India of illegal moves and demanded an end to provocations. "On the evening of June 15, in the Galwan Valley region on the Sino-Indian border, the Indian army violated its promise and once again illegally crossed the border control line," Zhang Shuili, a spokesperson for the Chinese military's western theater command, said in a statement. "India deliberately launched provocative attacks and triggered fierce physical conflict between the two sides, resulting in casualties."
"We demand that the Indian side strictly restrain the front-line forces, immediately stop all wrongful provocative action, to stop going against China, and to return to the correct track of dialogue and talks to resolve differences," the spokesperson said.
In recent months, India has been building a strategic road, linked to an airstrip, near its Chinese frontier — which it could potentially use to deploy soldiers more quickly than previously possible. In response, China has poured in more of its own troops, erecting tents and outposts.
In May, Indian officials accused Chinese soldiers of crossing the border at three different points. The alleged incursions triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and even a rare cross-border fistfight.
China denies it breached the "Line of Actual Control," as the disputed border is known.
On Tuesday, the Indian statement said there were casualties "on both sides." But Chinese officials did not immediately confirm that.
NPR producer Sushmita Pathak contributed to this report. Emily Feng and Amy Cheng contributed reporting from Beijing.
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