Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leaders on Friday paid tributes to the soldiers killed in a blast in Jammu and Kashmir, saying the troops made the supreme sacrifice for the country.

Five Army personnel were killed in an explosion triggered by terrorists on Friday in a thickly forested area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district where an operation is underway to flush out terrorists.

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A major was also injured in the blast.

Five soldiers made the supreme sacrifice for the country while fighting terrorists in Rajouri, Kharge said.

“We pay our heartfelt tributes to the brave soldiers and express our deepest condolences to the bereaved families. We will never allow the nefarious designs of terrorism to succeed,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also expressed grief over the loss of lives in the blast.

“The news of martyrdom of our five soldiers in an encounter with terrorists in Rajouri sector of Jammu and Kashmir is very sad. At this difficult time, I convey my deepest condolences to their bereaved families. My humble tributes to all the martyrs,” he tweeted in Hindi.

Mobile internet facilities in Rajouri have been suspended.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also paid tributes to the “brave sons of the country”.

“The country will always remember this sacrifice of its martyrs. My deepest condolences to the families of the martyrs. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured soldiers,” he said.

According to a statement issued by the Army’s Northern Command, its personnel have been conducting “relentless intelligence-based operations to flush out a group of terrorists involved in an ambush on an Army truck in the Tota Gali area of Bhata Dhurian in Jammu region last month”.