Days after the violent skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops at Galwan Valley on the disputed stretch of Line of Actual Control (LAC) which claimed the lives 20 Indian soldiers and led to the death of at least 43 Peoples’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops, China has reportedly released 10 Indian soldiers who were held captive.
Though there is no official word from the Centre yet, news agency PTI reports that 10 Indian Army soldiers including two Majors were released by the Chinese military on Thursday evening following three days of negotiations. The last time Indian soldiers had been taken captive by the Chinese was in 1962 after a bloody clash at Galwan Valley which had claimed the lives of at least 30 Indian soldiers.
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As per news reports, the decision to release Indian soldiers was arrived at post the 6-hour long Major General level talks held on Thursday between Indian Army and China’s PLA. There have been three round of talks between the two sides ever since the violent face-off.
Incidentally, Indian Army had earlier specified that all soldiers involved at the Galwan Valley face-off had been accounted for. The Army issued a brief statement and said, “It is clarified that there are no Indian troops missing in action.”
Military sources on Thursday had said that a total of 76 Army personnel had been brutally assaulted by PLA troops on June 15-16 intervening night out of whom 18 were seriously injured while 58 soldiers sustained minor injuries.