BSF on Wednesday detected a suspected underground cross-border tunnel in the Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir nearly a fortnight after security forces gunned down two suicide bombers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit who had infiltrated from Pakistan, officials said.
Deputy Inspector General of BSF (Jammu) S P S Sandhu said a small opening, believed to be a suspected tunnel, was found in a general area near fencing in Samba.
“Due to darkness, the further search could not be carried out. However, a detailed search will be carried out early in the morning at first light,” Sandhu, the public relations officer of the force, said, sharing a few pictures of the suspected tunnel.
However, BSF sources said the troops detected the suspected tunnel 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), 900 metres from the Indian side,” an official said, asking not to be named.
He said the opening is about 300 metres from the border outpost Chak Faquira and 700 metres from the last Indian village.
BSF has launched a massive drive to detect any tunnel all along the International Border (IB) following the April 22 encounter in the Sunjwan area of Jammu when two heavily-armed JeM terrorists, wearing suicide vests, were eliminated in an encounter after they attacked a bus carrying Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel.
An Assistant-sub inspector of CISF was killed, and nine security personnel, including two police officers, were injured in the encounter.
The subsequent investigation led to the arrest of three conspirators, including a truck driver and his helper who transported the Pashtu-speaking terrorists from the Sapwal border in Samba district to Jammu in the middle of the night the previous day.
