COLOMBO (AFP) — A Sri Lankan soldier was critically injured Thursday after he was attacked by a bear while taking bearings during a jungle survival mission in northern Sri Lanka, officials said.

The soldier was in the jungles near the village off Pompemadu, around 275 kilometres (170 miles) from Colombo, when the wild bear pounced on him, a military official said.

"The bear has chewed off a part of the soldier’s skull," a military official in the town of Vavuniya, 15 kilometres from Pompemadu, said by telephone. "The man is in a critical condition."

"He was taking a compass reading when the bear jumped from a tree and straight onto the soldier. He barely made it to hospital."