Dhenkanal: Naik Ajit Kumar Sahoo of Odisha was among half-a-dozen Army personnel who was martyred following an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Monday, reports said on Tuesday.

Ajit was reportedly injured in the blast at Arihal and succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, the Army said.

A resident of Badasuala village in Kamakhyanagar block of Dhenkanal district in Odisha, Ajit had joined the Army in 2015.

According to sources, suspected militants on Monday evening attacked an Army convoy in Arihal area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district with an IED fitted in a car.

Police sources claimed that six soldiers and two civilians were injured in the attack while the condition of three of them was stated to be critical.

On Tuesday morning, a pall of gloom descended on Badasuala village after Ajit’s father heardof his son’s death.

“Ajit had come home last month and returned to his duty on June 1... I feel proud for my son’s supreme sacrifice for the nation,” said Santosh Sahoo, the martyr’s father.