Three soldiers of the Indian Army were injured in a blast around 3 am on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district, the police said.

The explosion occurred in a private vehicle which the soldiers had hired to travel from Sedhau village of Shopian to Patitohalan where they were supposed to launch a cordon and search operation.

“The blast is very likely to be from either an IED [improvised explosive device] or a grenade or a battery malfunctioning in the vehicle,” the police said in a statement. “Details are being ascertained.”

The soldiers were given first aid at the District Hospital in Shopian and transferred to the Army’s 92 Base Hospital in Srinagar. One of the soldiers is in critical condition, while the other two are stable, the police said.

Security forces have cordoned off the area to get hold of the militants suspected to be involved in the attack, the police said.