An officer and a jawan of the army were killed in a mysterious blast near a forward post along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, officials said.

The blast took place in Kalal area of Nowshera sector when an army column was on patrol duty as part of measures to check infiltration of terrorists from across the border, the officials said.

They said the two army personnel, including a lieutenant, were critically injured in the explosion and immediately evacuated to a nearby military hospital where they died later.

They said the area where the explosion took place is dotted with landmines planted by the army as part of the counter-infiltration arrangement.

The nature of the explosion was not immediately known, the officials said, without ruling out the possibility of the use of improvised explosive device (IED) by terrorists to target the patrol team.

Confirming the explosion, a defence spokesman said further details were awaited.