Jammu, Jan 9 (IANS): The Indian Army said Wednesday that two of its soldiers were first shot dead by Pakistani troops and then beheaded, and one of the heads had not been found.

"The head of one of the soldiers is yet to be recovered," said Brigadier J.K. Tiwari, deputy general officer commanding (GOC) of the 25 Division headquartered in Rajouri, 180 km from here.

He identified the dead soldiers as Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh and Lance Naik Hemraj.

He said they were "escorting a patrol party near the Sona Gali area close to the LoC (Line of Control)" in Jammu and Kashmir when they were shot dead and beheaded.

The army had not been able to recover the head of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh, he said.

The brigadier was speaking to the media after attending the guard of honour for the two soldiers killed Tuesday.

According to him, eight soldiers led by two escorts -- the victims -- was patrolling the area, about 600 meters inside the LoC.

"There was very thick fog and visibility was almost nil," he said, adding that the Pakistani soldiers were in black dress and had laid an ambush.

They opened fire at the Indian patrol, killing the two soldiers in the front.

In the meantime, the other soldiers in the patrol opened retaliatory fire. The gun battle continued for about 25 minutes.

When the rest of the patrol reached the dead men, they found that they had been beheaded.

Brig. Tiwari did not rule out possibility of the raiders having taken the head of one of the soldiers with them.

"The bodies of the soldiers were recovered after the firing stopped," he said.

The bodies were sent to their hometown after a wreath laying ceremony and guard of honour at Rajouri.