As steel bullets which are capable of penetrating normal protective shields were recovered from terrorists, security forces in Jammu and Kashmir have toned up the bullet-proofing shield of their vehicles and bunkers. This ammunition was found recently during an encounter in South Kashmir.
Security forces encountered local commander of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed group, Vilayat Hussain Lone alias Sajjad Afghani in Shopian a couple of days back. The army recovered 36 rounds of armed steel-core bullets from him. Security forces were alarmed by this recovery as these bullets were capable of causing harm to personnel wearing a regular protective shield.
Officials said that they have now upgraded the vehicles which are deployed in South Kashmir with an extra layer of protection for avoiding attacks with penetrative bullets. They said that this type of bullet is normally used in AK series rifles. Terrorists have modified these ammunitions with the help of Chinese technology of encasing bullets with a hard steel core. The bullet is called Armour Piercing (AP) and is made up of hardened steel or tungsten carbide.
Security forces first noticed use of ‘steel core’ bullet on New Year eve of 2017 when JeM terrorists attacked CRPF camp in Lethpora in South Kashmir. Five paramilitary personnel lost their lives in this attack. One of the security personnel was hit by a bullet causing serious injury even though he was using a static bullet-proof shield.
Generally, militants use bullets which have their lead core covered with mild steel. These bullets cannot penetrate a bullet-proof shield but after the unfortunate incident, forces had to rethink their strategy. The terrorists involved were mainly from Jaish group. They were equipped with top quality weapons like M-4 carbines and bullets with steel core.
After the 2017 attack, the then Additional Director General of CRPF for Jammu and Kashmir S N Shrivastava conducted an investigation. It was found in that investigation that bullets used by terrorists were of steel core which can even penetrate static bunkers used by security personnel during encounters.
When further investigations were carried out then it was found that terrorists had used ‘steel core’ bullets earlier too during an attack on district police lines of Pulwama in South Kashmir in August 2016. Eight security personnel were killed in that attack. These steel bullets have also been used in some recent attacks too.
