An army jawan was killed and three others injured in a blast triggered by an Improvised Explosive Device attack along LoC in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.
"A patrol party of the army was targeted by an Improvised Explosive Device at approximately 8:30 am hours on Thursday along LoC Gambhir battalion area," Defence spokesperson Col Manish Mehta said.
In the blast, one jawan lost his life while 3 others suffered injuries, the spokesman said, adding that, the injured Jawans have been admitted to the Military hospital for treatment. A search operation was in progress in the area till the last reports came in, he said.
The deceased jawan has been identified as Sepoy Shanker Singh and injured as Lance Naik Mohinder Singh, Sepoy Shamveer and Sepoy Surinder Prasad.
As per the official reports, an IED has been planted by the suspected terrorists in a foot track going to a forward Post in Tarkundi forward belt along LoC. During the switching over the units from old unit of 20 Jat to new unit of 6 Rajput, the IED was exploded through remote control to target troops.
The modus operendi is similar to the IED attacks that took place along LoC in 2014 and 2013 in Jammu and Kashmir. An army jawan was killed and two of his colleagues were injured on May 18 last when militants triggered an IED explosion targeting a patrol team along the LoC in Akhnoor area of Jammu district, a senior army official said.
With inputs from Mukhtar Ahmad in srinagar