Alwaght- New clash reportedly broke out between Indian and Chinese troops along the disputed border area, leaving several soldiers injured on both sides.
The clash took place at Naku La sector in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim three days ago, but was later resolved and the situation is reported to be under control now, local sources said on Monday.
The unnamed sources said the troops engaged in physical clashes after soldiers from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attempted to intrude across the contested border. The Indian soldiers, however, successfully managed to foil the intrusion bid.
Around 20 Chinese soldiers and four Indian army soldiers have reportedly sustained injuries. Sources said no firearms were used during the scuffle.
This comes as Indian and Chinese troops are already engaged in a border standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto frontier between the two countries, in the northwestern Indian region of Ladakh.
The scuffle also took place two days before the ninth round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China was held with a focus on mutually acceptable timeline to disengage from friction points along the disputed Himalayan territory.
The military-level talks which went on for nearly 16 hours were held at the Moldo border point on the Chinese side of LAC in eastern Ladakh.
Nearly 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops are deployed in eastern Ladakh amid the ongoing border standoff.
There have been numerous cross-border stand-offs between Indian and Chinese soldiers, including one in Ladakh, which occurred after the Indian army sent troops to stop the construction of a road by China back in 2017.
After a two-month standoff, troops from both sides withdrew and the countries sought to resolve tensions.
Since then, the 3,500-kmilometer border between the two nuclear powers had remained calm. Relations also appeared to improve between Beijing and New Delhi after President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met in the Chinese city of Wuhan in 2018.
But in June last year, the troops from the two sides clashed at the Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of PLA men died. That was the first incident of border casualty between India and China in nearly five decades.
Also in August, the Indian army claimed that Chinese troops have carried out military movements on their disputed border to change the status quo.
That incident was reported along the southern bank of the Pangong Tso Lake, which is claimed by both sides.
The 134-km-long river extends from Ladakh, India to the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China.
China denied India’s claims of “provocative” military movements by Chinese troops at the contested border at the time.
Despite several rounds of military and diplomatic talks, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a face-off in the western Himalayas, where both sides have been trading accusations of violating the LAC.
The two countries fought a bitter war over the border region of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962.
