20 Indian soldiers killed in clash with Chinese troops

Bloomberg

India says at least 20 of its soldiers have died in a “violent” clash with Chinese troops at a section along their unmarked border high in the Himalayas, in the first fatalities resulting from skirmishes in the region in four decades.
There were “casualties on both sides,” Indian army spokesman Col Aman Anand said in New Delhi, adding that officials were meeting to defuse the situation. The dead on the Indian side include an officer and two soldiers, Anand said, adding that no firing took place during the encounter. He gave no other details.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday he didn’t have information on the violent face-off that led to the killing of the three Indian soldiers. But he said two Indian soldiers had illegally crossed into Chinese territory twice on June 15 in a “serious violation” of the consensus reached earlier between the two countries.
“They provoked and attacked the Chinese side, leading to a severe physical brawl. China has lodged protests and representations to the Indian side,” Zhao said. “China demands the Indian side restrict front line soldiers and avoid unilateral moves that will complicate the border situation.”
The sudden escalation in geopolitical risk dented investor sentiment. The S&P BSE Sensex of stocks gave up gains of as much as 2.4% to trade 1.2% higher in Mumbai. The yield on the most traded 6.45% 2029 bond rose by five basis point to 6.03%, while the rupee depreciated 0.2% to 76.2125 per dollar. Local gold futures rose about 1% after the report of the clash, even as global prices of the bullion were little changed.
For more than six weeks now soldiers from both sides have been engaged in a stand-off at least two locations along the Line of Actual Control — the 3,488 kilometre unmarked boundary between India and China, and have rushed additional troops to the border.
They have been facing each other at the Galwan River, which was one of the early triggers of the 1962 India-China war, and at the disputed Pangong Tso — a glacial lake at 14,000 feet in the Tibetan plateau, portions of which are claimed by both. The latest escalation comes even as talks between officials of the two armies and at the diplomatic level have been ongoing to ease the soaring tensions.