Indian and Chinese troops have brawled on their rivaled Himalayan border, leaving injuries on both sides, India’s military and media reports said.
“It is clarified that there was a minor face-off at Naku La area of North Sikkim on 20 January 2021, and the same was resolved by local commanders as per established protocols,” the Indian army asserted in a statement on Monday.
Naku La attaches the Indian state of Sikkim to the Tibet region in China.
Media reports referred to Indian military officials as asserting there were fatalities on both sides in the confrontation last week.
A Chinese patrol attempted to pass over into Indian territory and was stricken back, the officials said.
The occurrence came six months after an atilt crusade annihilated at least 20 Indian troops and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers.
Breaking: China has constructed a new village in Arunachal Pradesh, 4.5 kms within Indian territory of the de facto border, consisting of about 101 homes, satellite images show, reports @ndtv. pic.twitter.com/1ZK77XKZMG
— Ahmer Khan (@ahmermkhan) January 18, 2021
Hand-to-hand battling on the Sikkim border in May last year erupted the latest frontier anxieties between the world’s two most populous nations.
In June, troops from the two sides quarreled with fists and wooden clubs in the Ladakh region’s Galwan valley, killing 20 Indian and an unbeknownst number of Chinese soldiers.
China and India battled a border war in 1962, condemned each other for the conflict, and each has sprinkled tens of thousands of additional battalions into border zones.
The latest de-escalation discussions between military commanders were held on Sunday.