The security forces in Jammu and Kashmir are taking bothimmediate and long term remedial measures to counter the threat posed todeployed troops by militants’ use of steel-coated armour piercing bullets.
“Many immediate and long term remedial measures are beingtaken to avert the threat to security forces in light of the recent and pastuse of steel-coated armour piercing bullets by the militants in the state.
“Immediate measures would include further reinforcement ofprotective shields used during counter insurgency operations. Long termmeasures would include upgrade and improvement in the bullet-proof equipment,including helmets and jackets used by the deployed troops,” a senior securityforces officer said.
An alert was recently sounded across various securityagencies and the state police following an internal probe by the CRPF into thekilling of five of its troops and an officer of the state police in a militantattack on K.P.Road in Anantnag town on June 12.
The probe findings revealed that the lone Fidayeen militant,a Pakistani national belonging to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), involved in theattack was able to inflict maximum damage because of the use of steel-coatedbullets.
The rifle magazine of the slain militant contained 18 livesteel-coated bullets even after he had used quite a few of them to target theCRPF troops and the state Police Station House Officer (SHO), Arshad Khan,sources said.
The CRPF probe also revealed that the JeM militants had usedsteel-coated bullets in 2017, but not during militant attacks carried out lastyear.
“While additional protective layers on bullet proofequipment used by the security forces is being put into practice, futureremedial measures would depend on how quickly the present bullet proofequipment is phased out,” said another informed source here.