As many as 260 Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel were awarded the Union Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal on Sunday for their exceptional service during the border standoff with the Chinese army in eastern Ladakh.

The ITBP is the first line of defence along the 3,488km China frontier that passes along Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. The army remains behind it.

An ITBP spokesperson said the award had been given to its troops in recognition of the “indomitable courage and devotion of duty” shown by them in eastern Ladakh between May 2020 and February this year.

He said the special operations of the ITBP were spread over a year and involved a high degree of execution of strategic planning and efficient ground operations.

In August this year the Centre had awarded gallantry medals to 20 ITBP personnel who fought shoulder to shoulder with the Indian Army in keeping the Chinese troops at bay in eastern Ladakh in 2020.

Earlier, the ITBP had officially said that there had been multiple clashes, besides the Galwan Valley fight, between Indian and Chinese soldiers in May-June last year along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) .

So far the Indian Army has remained tightlipped about these clashes. It only admitted two clashes last year — those on June 15 and May 5.