An underground tunnel was detected by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the International Border (IB) in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to the BSF, the tunnel was believed to have been used by two suicide bombers of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group to sneak into India.
BSF said that with the detection of the tunnel, BSF Jammu has foiled the nefarious designs of Pakistan-based terrorists to disrupt the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. After the suspension for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Amarnath Yatra is set to commence on June 30 and will conclude on August 11.
"21 sandbags recovered which were used to strengthen the exit of the tunnel. This is the 5th tunnel detected in less than 1.5 years," it said in a statement.
The detection of the cross-border tunnel comes nearly a fortnight after security forces gunned down both the suicide bombers in a gunfight shortly after they attacked a CISF bus killing an Assistant Sub-inspector in Sunjwan area of Jammu on April 22.
This was the first such structure unearthed by the BSF beneath the International Border in the past 16 months, taking the overall number to 11 in the past decade. Last year, the force had detected two tunnels in Hiranagar sector of Kathua district in January.
“Today, alert troops of @bsf_jammu detected a #tunnel along Samba International Border area, thwarting the nefarious designs of #Pakistan,” tweeted BSF Jammu - the official handle of BSF Jammu frontier tonight.
The tunnel was detected by the troops during the ongoing anti-tunnelling drive in the border outpost area of Chak Faquira around 5.30 pm.
“A newly dug tunnel at a distance of 150 metres from the IB and 50 metres from the border fence was detected opposite Pakistani post Chaman Khurd (Fiaz) which is 900 metres from the Indian side,” an official said.
He said the opening of the tunnel is about 300 metres from the border outpost Chak Faquira and 700 metres from the last Indian village.
BSF is manning about 192 km of IB and Line of Control (LoC) alongside the Army and is keeping a tight vigil to scuttle any attempt of infiltration of terrorists, smuggling of weapons and narcotics and drone activity from across the border.
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