A soldier at the Bathinda military station in Punjab died of a gunshot wound at 4.30pm on Wednesday, hours after four soldiers of an artillery unit of the station were shot dead.

Punjab police had on Wednesday ruled out a “terrorist attack” angle in the incident and said it was suspected to be a case of fratricide. Neither the army nor the police have so far provided any clarity on the identity of the shooters.

On the latest incident involving another soldier, the army on Thursday said in a statement that the case “purportedly seems to be of attempted suicide”. The deceased was identified as Laghu Raj Shankar.

The statement said the soldier had suffered a gunshot injury near his right temporal region and was immediately rushed to the military hospital where he succumbed.

“The soldier was on sentry duty with his service weapon. The weapon and cartridge case from the same weapon was found next to the soldier who had returned from leave on April 11,” the statement said, adding there was no connection whatsoever with the incident that took place at 4.30am on Wednesday at the Bathinda military station.

A massive hunt was underway on Thursday to arrest the assailants behind the killing of the four soldiers. “We are in touch with the Army,” said the senior police officer.

The four jawans were sleeping when the firing took place around 4.30am on Wednesday.

According to an FIR, a jawan saw two unidentified men in white kurta-pyjama, their faces and heads covered with cloth, coming out of the barracks after the firing. One of them was carrying an Insas rifle and the other an axe, the jawan said.

Additional reporting by PTI