At least five army men were killed and five others injured when terrorists ambushed their vehicle in the remote Machedi area in border district of Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.

Sources said militants ambushed army vehicles, which were part of a convoy, on the Machedi-Kindli-Malhar road at around 3.30 pm near Badnota village in Lohai Malhar, 150 km from Kathua town.

“The terrorists fired from automatic weapons and lobbed grenades on army vehicles. In the terrorist attack, four soldiers were killed and six others injured,” they said.

They said the security men also returned the fire and after a brief exchange of gunfire, terrorists fled into the nearby forest.

The injured army men were evacuated to military hospital, where one of the critically injured jawan succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll to five.

“Of the five injured soldiers, the condition of two is said to be critical,” sources said.

The reinforcement of army, police and CRPF were rushed to the area and the security men have launched a massive search operation in the Machedi and its adjoining areas to hunt down the terrorists involved in the attack.

“The terrorists, who are believed to have recently infiltrated from across the border, were moving to the higher reaches,” sources said.

The elite para commandos were air dropped in the area to assist the security men on the ground in the search operation in locating the militants.

The security men were also using drones and other surveillance gadgets to detect and track the movement of militants.

This was the second major incident in Kathua district in the past four weeks.

On June 12 and 13, two terrorists and a CRPF jawan were killed in a fierce gunfight during a search and cordon operation.

The terror attack comes within a fortnight of a gunfight between terrorists and security forces in the Gandoh area of Doda district that left three foreign terrorists dead on June 26.

Jammu has witnessed a spurt in terror activities.

On June 9, terrorists struck a bus carrying pilgrims from the Shiv Khori temple in Reasi district, killing nine people, including the driver and the conductor of the vehicle, and injuring 41.

On June 11-12, terrorists carried out twin attacks on security forces in Doda district in which seven security men including five soldiers were injured.

On June 26, three Pakistani militants suspected to be involved in the twin Doda attacks on June 11 and 12, were killed in a day long encounter.

The terror attack has taken place a day after twin encounters ended in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district in which six terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen and two soldiers including an elite para commando were killed.