China on Saturday released five Indian nationals it detained in a region bordering Tibet, the Indian army said, days after the two sides agreed to dial down tensions on their disputed frontier.

The men, who the Indian side said had accidentally strayed into Chinese territory, were escorted back across the high-altitude frontier by the People's Liberation Army to the border town of Kibithu.

"After quarantine of 14 days for Covid-19 they will be handed over to family members," an Indian defence spokesman said on Twitter.

There was no official confirmation of the release from China, but the state run Global Times tabloid claimed the men were "Indian intelligence staff who had disguised themselves as hunters".

It reported that the men had trespassed and that Chinese officials had "detained, warned and educated" them.

India and China, which fought a brief but deadly border war in 1962, have been embroiled in a series of deadly clashes and showdowns on their contested Himalayan border in recent months.

Both sides have sent tens of thousands of troops to the region since a skirmish in June that saw 20 Indian troops killed, along with a still unknown number of Chinese casualties.

New Delhi responded with an escalating economic embargo that saw a ban on Chinese-made apps and a block on Chinese goods at its ports and customs posts.

Earlier this week the Global Times published a strident editorial warning that Indian troops "will all be annihilated" if Delhi provoked a war.

Saturday's handover took place two days after a meeting in Moscow between the Indian and Chinese foreign ministers, who said they had agreed to "disengage" from the frontier as soon as possible.

China, India agree to disengage at disputed border
Beijing (AFP) Sept 11, 2020 - India and China have agreed to "disengage as soon as possible" after troops engaged in a series of clashes at their disputed Himalayan border, according to a joint statement from the two countries.

The nuclear-armed neighbours accused each other this week of firing shots across the flashpoint border -- intensifying a months-long standoff that has already claimed at least 20 lives.

Tens of thousands of troops from both sides have been deployed to the border, which sits at an altitude of more than 4,000 metres (13,500 feet).

After a meeting Thursday between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow, a joint statement said the two sides had agreed to de-escalate.

"(The) border defense forces of both countries should continue dialogue, disengage as soon as possible, maintain the necessary distance, and ease the situation on the ground," the statement said.

The two also agreed to "avoid actions that may escalate the situation".

Throughout the dispute, China and India have issued similar statements calling for restraint and to ease tensions.

The frontier between the two countries has never been properly demarcated.

The countries fought a brief border war in 1962, but officially no shots have been fired in the area since 1975 when four Indian troops were killed in an ambush.

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India uses hotline to alert China about 'kidnap': minister
New Delhi (AFP) Sept 6, 2020
The Indian military has alerted China of allegations that five men were abducted by the People's Liberation Army from an area near the disputed border, a minister said Sunday, amid rising tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours. The relationship between the Asian giants has deteriorated since a clash in the Ladakh region on June 15 in which 20 Indian troops were killed. India's Minister of State for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who is also a lawmaker from the isolated border state of Ar ... read more