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POONCH: The bullets used by terrorists to target an army vehicle at Bhatta Durrian in the border Poonch district of Jammu, in which five army soldiers were martyred, were left by US troops in Afghanistan after the fall of the US-backed government there in August 2021.
Five soldiers were martyred on Thursday afternoon in the first-of-its-kind ambush by terrorists on an army vehicle moving from Bhimber Gali to Sangiot, around 90 kilometers away from the district headquarters of Poonch.
A sniper is believed to have targeted the truck from the front before the two other terrorists sprayed bullets and lobbed grenades at it, sources said. “Investigations are on to find out whether steel core bullets used by the terrorists in targeting the Army truck were Chinese made or United States.”
Such bullets were left by the US troops in Afghanistan while leaving Kabul and they fell into the hands of the Taliban. Sources revealed that the bullets might have been diverted by the Taliban to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfits.
Additional DGP Jammu, Mukesh Singh, said the use of Chinese-made steel core bullets in the attack by the terrorists is part of investigations.
“The attack was carried out by two to three terrorists who are believed to be Pakistanis. We can’t talk about local involvement at this stage,” he said.
The terrorists had reportedly taken away weapons and ammunition from the soldiers who were martyred in the attack. However, there was no official confirmation from the Army on the matter.
“Massive search operations are on in Bhatta Durrian forests backed by the intelligence agencies, to track down the terrorists involved in the attack. The operations are being coordinated regularly by top officials,” the Jammu Police chief, who camped at the spot for two days, said.
The investigations into the deadly attack so far are being jointly carried out by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Jammu & Kashmir police. However, there is a possibility that the investigations might be handed over to the NIA.
