*South Korean troops were engaged in a gun battle with a runaway soldier who had killed five comrades.
*The parents of the runaway sergeant were also sent to the spot to persuade him to surrender.
*South Korean military has ordered local residents to find emergency shelters.
South Korean army soldiers patrol to search for a South Korean conscript soldier who is on the run after a shooting incident in Goseong, South Korea, June 22, 2014. South Korean troops were engaged in a gun battle Sunday with a runaway soldier who had killed five comrades the previous night, local media reports said. (Xinhua/Yonhap Photo)
South Korean troops were engaged in a gun battle Sunday with a runaway soldier who had killed five comrades the previous night, local media reports said.
The soldier opened fire on troops after they tracked him down near a school in the Goseong region close to the border with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), according to South Korea's local TV broadcast YTN.
Another soldier was injured in the firefight on Sunday afternoon and has been sent to hospital by helicopter.
South Korean military has ordered local residents to find emergency shelters. No injuries of local residents have been reported so far.
The parents of the runaway sergeant were also sent to the spot to persuade him to surrender.
The sergeant, identified only by his surname Lim, was estimated to carry with a grenade, a gun and some 290 rounds of ammunition, according to the media reports.
South Korea's Ministry of National Defense on Sunday made public apologizes for the incident, declaring that they have set up a crisis management team.
The South Korean Army sergeant, who was serving sentry at the Demilitarized Zone, fired around 10 random shots with his K-2 rifle against fellow South Korean soldiers at about 8:15 p.m. local time Saturday, according to military officials.
The firing rampage took place at a general outpost of the 22nd Infantry Division in Goseong, a northeastern town in Gangwon Province bordering the DPRK.
