Five soldiers from the Rashtriya Rifles unit were killed in a terrorist attack on their army truck in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district; a search operation is underway.

A cordon and search operation has been launched in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district following a terrorist attack on an army truck that killed five soldiers and seriously injured another. The vehicle was carrying soldiers from Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counterterror operations when it was fired upon by terrorists and later caught fire due to a likely grenade attack. The National Investigation Agency will join the investigation into the attack, and a team of forensic experts is also at the site. The Army’s 16 Corps identified the soldiers who died in the attack as four from Punjab and one from Odisha. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he was anguished at the loss of lives of the “brave soldiers.” Political parties have condemned the attack, and Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina says the killing of soldiers will be avenged. The terror attack took place on a day when Pakistan announced that its Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would visit India next month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa, which will be the first visit by any Pakistani Foreign Minister since 2011.