5 soldiers killed as army vehicle catches fire in Poonch, terrorists may have thrown grenades: Army

Five Army soldiers were killed on Thursday after their vehicle caught fire likely due to a grenade attack by terrorists while moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.

"An Army vehicle moving between Bhimber Gali and Poonch in the Rajouri sector in J&K was fired on by unidentified terrorists today. The vehicle caught fire, due to likely use of grenades by terrorists, " said Indian Army.

"Five personnel of the Rashtriya Rifles Unit deployed for Counter Terrorist operations, in this area, have unfortunately lost their lives in the incident. Another seriously injured soldier was evacuated immediately to the Army Hospital at Rajouri and is under treatment. Search operation on," it added.


"Today, at about 1500 hours, one vehicle of Indian army, while moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot in district Poonch (J&K), caught fire," Public Relations Officer (Defence), Jammu, said.

"In this tragic incident five soldiers of the Indian Army have lost their lives," he said.

He said further details are being ascertained about the nature of incident.

Some reports suggested a sticky bomb or an ambush might have triggered the fire, but officials were unavailable for comments.

Army and police personnel have rushed to the spot, which is 90 kilometres from Poonch.

Visuals showed semi-burnt bodies of the soldiers lying on the road beside the burning truck. It was not immediately clear how many soldiers were there in the vehcile when it caught fire.

Local people and some army personnel were seen extinguishing the fire.

With inputs from PTI