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China has released 10 Indian army soldiers, including at least two senior officers, it captured in a high-altitude border clash in the Himalayas which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, media reports said.
The release follows several rounds of talks between the two sides in a bid to ease tensions after the battle on Monday, in which scores of troops from the two sides fought with nail-studded batons and hurled rocks at each other in the disputed Galwan Valley.
India’s The Hindu and The Indian Express newspapers on Friday said the release took place after major-general-level talks were held between the Indian and Chinese militaries on Thursday to defuse the border standoff.
‘Returned unharmed’
The Indian Express, quoting officials it did not name, said all 10 soldiers were released by China around 5pm (11:30 GMT) on Thursday.
The released soldiers were medically examined and provided a preliminary debriefing, reports said. “They were returned unharmed,” said The Hindu.
The Indian Express said it was the first time after the 1962 India-China war that Indian soldiers were taken into custody by the Chinese side.
While China's maps in the past claimed most of the Galwan river but not its western end, it now increasingly appears Beijing has extended its claims west of the LAC to the Galwan-Shyok confluence 1/2
— Ananth Krishnan (@ananthkrishnan) June 19, 2020
The Indian army on Thursday denied its soldiers were in Chinese custody. “No Indian troops missing in action,” a statement released by the army said.
Later in the day, the Indian army said 76 of its soldiers were wounded in Monday night’s clash in Galwan Valley. It added that 56 of those wounded had been cleared to return to work “within a week”.
China was yet to officially disclose if it suffered any casualties in the deadliest clash between the two nuclear-armed Asian neighbours in decades.
India and China have not exchanged gunfire at the border since 1967, despite occasional flare-ups. Soldiers are under instructions to keep their rifles slung at their backs.
Since the clash, there is no sign of a breakthrough between the two Asian giants.
“The situation remains as it was, there is no disengagement, but there is also no further build-up of forces,” said an Indian government source aware of the ground situation.
