The Army team was deployed to secure roads for security convoys (Representational)
Two Army soldiers have died in the line of duty in a terrorist attack near the HMT area on the outskirts of Jammu and Kashmir's capital, Srinagar, police said on Thursday.
The soldiers were part of an Army patrol team that came under heavy firing from terrorists, police said.
The Army team was deployed to secure roads for security convoys.
"Three terrorists started shooting at our Army soldiers. Two jawans were critically injured and reportedly died of injuries. Jaish has active movement here, by evening we'll identify the group. Terrorists fled in a car and were armed. Two are probably Pakistani and one local," a senior police officer was quoted by news agency ANI as saying.
A search operation has been launched to track them down.
The fresh attack comes days after four Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, who were hiding in a truck, were killed in an encounter with security forces on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway near Nagrota.
Two policemen had been injured in the Nagrota gunfight. The police had said it was likely that the terrorists were "planning a big attack" and that they were headed towards the Kashmir valley.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had praised security forces over the operation.
"Our security forces have once again displayed utmost bravery and professionalism. Thanks to their alertness, they have defeated a nefarious plot to target grassroots level democratic exercises in Jammu and Kashmir," he had tweeted.
In the first polls since it was split into two union territories and had its decades-old special status revoked last August, Jammu and Kashmir will hold District Development Council (DDC) elections in eight phases between November 28 and December 19, and votes will be counted on December 22.
The government says terrorists want to disrupt the election with these attacks.