20 Indian soldiers killed in border clashes with Chinese troops

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed on the border overnight, leaving 20 Indian soldiers dead and marking the primary casualties during a conflict between the 2 powers in decades.

"Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at the Galway area where that they had earlier clashed on the night of 15/16 June 2020," Col. Aman Anand, spokesperson for the Indian army, told ABC News. "Seventeen Indian troops who were critically injured within the line of duty at the stand off location and exposed to sub-zero temperatures within the high altitude terrain have succumbed to their injuries, taking the entire that were killed in action to twenty ."

MORE: Dozens killed by deadly Cyclone Amphan in India and Bangladesh, leaving 'trail of devastation'

"Indian army is firmly committed to guard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state ," he added.

The skirmishes overnight marked an escalation within the growing conflict between China and India over the past few weeks.

ReutersArmy soldiers walk past their parked trucks at a makeshift transit camp before heading to Ladakh, near Baltal, southeast of Srinagar, India, June 16, 2020.Army soldiers walk past their parked trucks at a makeshift transit camp before heading to Ladakh, near Baltal, southeast of Srinagar, India, June 16, 2020.

Reuters

On Friday, the Daily Telegraph reported that 12,000 Chinese troops had entered Indian territory in Ladakh, within the country's northeast, after weeks of escalating tensions.

India and China visited war over disputed territory at the Himalayan border in 1962, but the announcement from the Indian army marks the primary deaths registered within the conflict in a minimum of 40 years.

MORE: a minimum of 1 survivor in Pakistani airliner crash: Official

While the explanations for the dispute are historic in origin, the recent turn of events are often attributed partially to India's growing strategic partnership with the us at the expense of Chinese influence, Dr. Elizabeth Chaterjee, a teacher in regional and comparative politics at Queen Mary University in London, told ABC News.

Greg Baker/AFP via Getty ImagesTwo Chinese paramilitary cops patrol outside the Indian embassy in Beijing on June 16, 2020.Two Chinese paramilitary cops patrol outside the Indian embassy in Beijing on June 16, 2020.

Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

"The escalating dispute has been driven by a newly aggressive China, taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis to say itself on the disputed border with India also as in Hong Kong and around Taiwan," she said. "More recently China has been irritated by India's criticism of the Belt and Road Initiative and defense cooperation with the us , Japan and Vietnam, aimed toward containing Chinese expansion. At an equivalent time, China's grip has only continued to tighten over the Himalayan border region further west because it lends huge sums to its close ally Pakistan -- India's nemesis -- for the China-Pakistan economic corridor."

The true number of casualties on each side remains unclear, with Chinese officials yet to release a press release of the size of the damage on their side.

MORE: Coronavirus cases increase in India for record 7th day during a row; officials point to low death rate

The Chinese secretary of state said that Indian troops had administered "violent acts" against Chinese soldiers, consistent with Chinese media. Reports thus far have suggested there was no exchange of gunfire, but the skirmish itself is "shrouded in secrecy," consistent with Chaterjee.

"Both sides possess nuclear weapons, which makes dramatic escalation an unlikely but extremely alarming prospect." she said. "As the traditional military imbalance between China and India has widened, Beijing has looked increasingly willing to form its weight felt within the Himalayas also as within the Indian Ocean and South China Sea."