BEIJING/NEW DELHI - China and India have accused each other of provoking fighting in which at least 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a disputed Himalayan border area.
Soldiers reportedly brawled with sticks, bats, and bamboo sticks studded with nails in the late night confrontation in the Ladakh region on Monday.
However, no shots were fired.
India's army said that both sides suffered casualties. China confirmed the incident but did not give details.
The Indian statement notes that injured soldiers were "exposed to sub-zero temperatures in the high altitude terrain".
It is the first deadly clash between the two sides in the border area, in the disputed Kashmir region, in at least 45 years.
India said China had tried to "unilaterally change the status quo". Beijing accused Indian troops of "attacking Chinese personnel".
The two armies later held talks to try to defuse tensions.
The fighting occurred in the precipitous, rocky terrain of the strategically important Galwan Valley, which lies between China's Tibet and India's Ladakh.
Indian media say soldiers engaged in direct hand-to-hand combat, with some "beaten to death". During the fight, one newspaper reported, others fell or were pushed into a river.
The Indian army initially said a colonel and two soldiers had died in the clash. It later said that "17 Indian troops who were critically injured in the line of duty" and died from their injuries, taking the "total that were killed in action to 20".
Both sides insist no bullet has been fired in four decades, and the Indian army said on Tuesday that "no shots were fired" in this latest skirmish.
India's foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said the clash arose from "an attempt by the Chinese side to unilaterally change the status quo" on the border.
China did not confirm the number of casualties, but accused India in turn of crossing the border onto the Chinese side.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to publicly address the issue, something that was pointed out by Rahul Gandhi, former leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party.(FA)
