INDIA has claimed its soldiers were mutilated after being beaten to death by Chinese forces in a clash was has sparked fears of a war between the two nations. Pictures also have emerged allegedly showing the spiked weapons used in the brutal hand-to-hand clash in the Himalayas. The brutality of the fight in the Galwan […]
INDIA has claimed its soldiers were mutilated after being beaten to death by Chinese forces in a clash was has sparked fears of a war between the two nations.
Pictures also have emerged allegedly showing the spiked weapons used in the brutal hand-to-hand clash in the Himalayas.
The brutality of the fight in the Galwan Valley is reportedly fueling fury in New Delhi as anger simmers between the two nations, reports India Today.
The publication described some of the Indian troops as being “mutilated” – but no further details were given.
Shocking details have emerged over the fight which allegedly happened with 55 Indian soldiers came across 300 Chinese troops on a mountain ridge.
At least 20 Indian soldiers died in the fighting which took place with improvised weapons and hand-to-hand.
Bats spiked with nails and wrapped in barbed were were reportedly used – with one India official described the Chinese force as a “death squad”.
Talks between the two sides are reported to be “barely keeping things under control” and the situation is “extremely volatile”.
It is unclear how many Chinese troops died in the fighting, with reports of 43 causalities.
No bullets were fired, with the two sides respecting a treaty that bars firearms within 2km on the Line of Actual Control – the defacto border between the nations.
Talks are continuing to try and deescalate the situation which is the latest violent chapter in a decades-long border row between India and China.
The violent deaths are the first fatalities during the feud since 1975, and the world is now watching with baited breath for the two sides to find peace.
Funerals have started taking place today for some of the Indian soldiers who died during the fighting as national fury grows.
Protests have also continued across India against China – with activists burning portraits of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Calls have mounting for a boycott of Chinese products as India has warned it will offer a “befitting reply” to the bloody deaths.
Both sides have blamed the other for the most recent clash and talks are ongoing to stop a further confrontation between the nuclear-armed powers.
Eri Kaneko, spokeswoman for the UN Secretary-General, pleaded with both sides to “exercise maximum restraint”.
Meanwhile, Chinese state TV broadcast footage of artillery and tanks taking part in a high-altitude drill around 600 miles from the skirmish in the Galwan River Valley.
Video shows the large force blowing apart sections of the landscape – with the Himalayas chillingly providing the backdrop in the distance.
Around 7,000 soldiers also took part, rehearsing storming fortified positions as the People’s Liberation Army flexed its military muscles.
It is unclear when the drill was filmed, but it serves as a shot across the bows of India.
Chinese state media yesterday taunted “the gap between [our] strength is clear” and warned China would not back down from a fight.
India and China have been feuding over the border since the two powers last fought a war in 1962.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is ready to hit back if provoked by China.
In a televised address, the PM said: “I would like to assure the nation that the sacrifice of our jawans will not be in vain.
“For us, the unity and sovereignty of the country is the most important. India wants peace but it is capable to give a befitting reply if instigated.”
Indian has reportedly placed its warships and fighter planes on alert as it prepares for conflict – with pictures yesterday showing convoys of troops heading for the border.
Thousands of Indian and Chinese soldiers, backed by armored trucks and artillery, have been facing off a few hundred yards apart for more than a month in the region near Tibet.
Indian officials have said Chinese soldiers crossed the boundary in Ladakh in early May at three different points, erecting tents and guard posts and ignoring verbal warnings to leave.
That triggered shouting matches, stone-throwing and fistfights, much of it replayed on television news channels and social media.
Since then India has accused China of invading 20 square miles of its territory.
China also accused Indian troops of crossing its border and attacking its soldiers in the tit-for-tat border row.
The border dispute covers nearly 2,175 miles of frontier, and India accuses China of occupying almost 15,000 square miles of its territory.
Tensions have been growing in the region since April when China deployed thousands of troops as well as artillery and vehicles.
Analysts say the troops were deployed in an attempt to stop India increasing its own military presence in the area.
Both countries have a huge military might as well as a large nuclear arsenal.
And both countries too have nationalistic-leaning governments and neither will want to be seen to be the one backing down with, at the very least, national pride at stake.
This will likely be a watershed moment in India-China relations and the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, said Abraham Denmark, Asia program director at The Wilson Center.
India and China are led by men who have embraced nationalism, and both countries are facing tremendous domestic and international upheaval as a result of Covid-19 and other long-standing problems.
It is a highly volatile and dangerous situation between two nuclear powers at a time when American influence has badly diminished, Denmark said.
The main questions now are if either side can find a path to deescalation and whether India’s allies such as the US will help.
