Indian fighter jets had to be scrambled to tackle the Chinese drones moving towards our positions on the LAC, sources said

New Delhi: The behaviour of Chinese troops has been very aggressive along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh in the last few months, top defence sources told India Today. The development comes after Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9. Both Indian and Chinese soldiers suffered 'minor injuries' due to the face-off, the Army said.

Chinese troops want the Indian side to remove a position from the tense Yangtse area in Arunachal Pradesh, where both countries have been locked in a 30-month border standoff in eastern Ladakh. Chinese drones flew aggressively towards the Indian side, after which Su-30 fighters had to be flown to tackle the threat, sources said.

Before the recent clash, Chinese drones had moved very aggressively towards the Indian positions on the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, forcing the Indian Air Force to scramble its fighter aircraft deployed in the region.

"Two to three scrambling of fighter jets have happened in the last few weeks. The IAF has also moved drones very close to Arunachal to counter the Chinese threat," sources added.

According to sources, if drones are picked up by radars flying towards Indian territory, necessary actions have to be taken to prevent any violation.

"The Indian Air Force keeps a close watch on Chinese drone activities along the LAC in the northeast. The actions have to be taken as the drones or any aircraft can not be allowed to violate the airspace," defence sources said.

The behaviour of Chinese troops has been very aggressive in Yangtse in the vicinity of the Holydip and Parikrama area on the LAC.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will make a statement in both houses of Parliament on Tuesday on the clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. Leaders of opposition parties have sought a discussion in Parliament over the India-China clash along the border.

India-China Clash In Arunachal

Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 and the face-off resulted in "minor injuries to a few personnel from both sides", the Indian Army said on Monday.

"Both sides immediately disengaged from the area. As a follow up of the incident, own (Indian) commander in the area held a flag meeting with his counterpart to discuss the issue in accordance with structured mechanisms to restore peace and tranquillity," it said.

The clash near Yangtse along the LAC in the sensitive sector took place last Friday amid the over 30-month border standoff between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.

In 2020, twenty Indian Army personnel, including a commanding officer (CO), were killed in a fierce clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh. After the Galwan clash, both the countries have engaged in multiple rounds of talks to diffuse the border tensions. Both the sides agreed on multiple measures to prevent any aerial escalation after the violation of air space by Chinese in Ladakh sector earlier this year.