New Delhi: Colonel B Santosh Babu and two soldiers, Havaldar Palani and sepoy Ojha were killed in a Eye-to-Eye violent on Monday night at Galwan valley in Ladakh with Chinese troops. In a massive escalation in the middle of efforts to defuse weeks of tensions at the border, according to the army sources the soldiers were not shot but were killed in a physical fight on Indian territory that involved stones and batons.

India retaliated and there were casualties on both sides. The clash took place just as Chinese troops were getting ready to move away from a location per an agreement. The Colonel was reportedly assaulted with stones and Indian soldiers retaliated, which led to close unarmed combat for several hours. The soldiers disengaged after midnight. Colonel B. Santosh Babu, from the Bihar regiment, was killed. The jawans who lost their lives were Havildar Palani and Sepoy Ojha.

There was no shootout, say sources, on the clashes that caused “significant casualties” on the Chinese side. “There was no firing. No firearms were used. It was violent hand-to-hand scuffles,” an unnamed officer. Chinese side also suffered casualties in the Galwan Valley physical clash. I want to tell the Indian side, don’t be arrogant and misread China’s restraint as being weak. China doesn’t want to have a clash with India, but we don’t fear it,” tweeted Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of Global Times.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the situation at the border via video call after a meeting with Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, the three military chiefs and External Affairs Minister S Jaishanker. Rajnath Singh is meeting the military chiefs for the second time.

The Indian Army have been facing each other at the Galwan River, which was one of the early triggers of the 1962 India-China war, and at the disputed Pangong Tso — a glacial lake at 14,000 feet in the Tibetan plateau, portions of which are claimed by both. Major Generals of both sides met to de-escalate tension after the clashes, according to an official statement. This is the first violent incident involving fatalities since 1975 between India and China, who fought a border war in 1962.

Colonel B Santosh Babu is a native of Surya pet in Telangana State. He was completed his primary education at Surya pet and from sixth standard to intermediate stage from Korukonda Sainik school in Vijayanagaram dist of AP. He survived with wife and two children and father and mother. His father is a retired SBI manager and mother Manjula is a housewife she said tears that as a mother she was not tollering the death of his son, but at the same time she was proud as a mother his son became a soldier, who sacrificed his life for the sake of country.