Five persons, including two children, were killed in a powerful explosion in Gurnal village near Banihal in Ramban district of Jammu on Saturday.

Police said children while playing in the forest found an abandoned hand grenade, which they brought home and started fiddling with.

"The grenade exploded inside the house of a special police officer, killing five persons including two children in the age of 10-12 years," said Hemant Lohia, deputy inspector general of police, Ramban-Doda-Kishtwar range.

Senior police and security force officers visited the spot after the explosion, which had spread panic in the area on Saturday afternoon.