Congress president Sonia Gandhi on June 16 said she was “deeply anguished and pained” over the killing of Indian Army personnel in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh.
“My tributes to their undaunting courage and condolences to the bereaved families. We stand together in defending our security and territorial integrity,” she said in a statement.
“Deeply anguished and pained by the reports of martyrdom of the brave officer and jawans of our Army in Galwan Valley, Ladakh,” she said.
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Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in the fierce clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley on June 15 night, the biggest military confrontation in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region.
The Army initially said on June 16 that an officer and two soldiers were killed. But in a late evening statement it revised the figure to 20 saying 17 others who “were critically injured in the line of duty and exposed to sub-zero temperatures at the standoff location succumbed to their injuries.”
Government sources said the Chinese side too suffered “proportionate casualties” but chose not to speculate on the number.