A sniper is believed to have targeted the vehicle from the front before his associates showered bullets and lobbed grenades on the vehicle from opposite sides, apparently giving the troops no time to retaliate
Daughter of Sepoy Harkrishan Singh, who was killed in Poonch attack, sits near his mortal remains, in Batala city of Punjab. File pic/PTI
Terrorists who ambushed an Army truck in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch used steel core bullets, capable of piercing an armoured shield, and decamped with the soldiers’ weapons, officials said on Sunday, amid intensified efforts to trace and neutralise the perpetrators.
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They said a sniper is believed to have targeted the vehicle from the front before his associates showered bullets and lobbed grenades on the vehicle from opposite sides, apparently giving the troops no time to retaliate.
Five soldiers were killed and one injured after the terrorists attacked the lone Army truck, which was carrying eatables for iftar to a nearby village, in the dense forest area of Bhata Dhurian late on Thursday afternoon and the vehicle caught fire.
Also Read: Poonch terror attack: ‘Terrorism spreading to Jammu’
The soldiers were from a Rashtriya Rifles unit deployed for counter-terror operations. The officials said over 12 people have been detained for questioning in connection with the Poonch attack but no arrests have been made so far.
Security forces are using drones and sniffer dogs to conduct a recce of the dense forest but success has eluded them so far, they said.
It is believed that the terrorists have managed to create safe hideouts in the dense forest to escape the security dragnet or may have crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, they added. According to the officials, initial reports suggest the involvement of around five terrorists, including some foreign mercenaries, in the attack. Agencies
12
Approx no of people detained so far
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