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.

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.