Two Chinese helicopters of the People’s Liberation Army violated the Indian airspace in Eastern Ladakh on May 5 afternoon, roughly at the same time when a senior army officer was airborne for a recce in Ladakh, sources said.
In response, the Indian Air Force scrambled its fighter Sukhoi jets from the Leh Airbase to patrol the area, sources added.
However, the Air Force has said that these were regular training sorties, and that the airspace was not violated.
According to sources, later that evening, aggression stepped up between about 250 Indian and Chinese troopers near the LAC in Ladakh. The clash was violent, and approximately 70 to 80 Indian soldiers were injured, they said.
Reinforcements were brought in at both sides following the incident, sources added.
In September 2019, a scuffle broke out between Indian and Chinese soldiers on the bank of the Pangong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh but the matter was resolved through talks between the two militaries.
In one of the longest confrontations between the two sides, troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day face-off in Doklam from June 16, 2017, after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. The impasse ended on August 28.