As intelligence agencies pointed out that two foreign terrorists killed in the Friday encounter at the Sunjwan area of Jammu city managed to infiltrate from the International Border (IB) a couple of days back, the Border Security Force (BSF) has launched a comprehensive drive to detect tunnels along the border.
A truck driver, who was arrested for transporting terrorists, also revealed during the questioning that he had picked them Supwal area of Samba district on the Jammu-Pathankot national highway just two days before the attack.
Bilal Ahmad Wagay son of Khursheed Ahmad Wagay, a resident of Kokernag in South Kashmir's Anantnag district, a truck operator was arrested by Police on April 23 from Pulwama. He had taken two terrorists from the International Border of Supwal near Samba and transported them to Sunjwan a day before the attack, and then escaped to Pulwama.
The arrested truck driver has also revealed that he had transported four terrorists from the same spot in January this year to Kulgam.
Of these four terrorists, two have been killed in Kulgam and two in Pulwama. After infiltrating, all four had reached Kashmir to attack. But the security forces killed all four in separate encounters.
Sources said that following the startling disclosure of the arrested driver, intelligence agencies have alerted BSF to start a comprehensive operation to detect tunnels near the border.
Terrorists likely to be infiltrated through tunnels
Although authorities are tightlipped over the disclosure of the arrested driver, it is believed that terrorists might have infiltrated through a tunnel on the IB.
A news agency quoting a senior BSF officer reported that no breaches in the border fence were noticed during the stepped-up operations which also saw the troops looking for underground cross-border tunnels all along the IB over the past five days.
"Anti-tunnel drives along the IB are a regular feature to frustrate the nefarious designs of the enemy nation. The drive is presently underway within 400 meters of the border fence all along the IB in the Jammu sector," the report said.
Last year, the force detected two tunnels across the international border in the Kathua district. For the past few years, Pakistan has been adopting the tunnel strategy to push terrorists into Jammu.
- On July 28, 2012, a trans-border tunnel from the Shakkargarh area on the Pakistan side had entered 540 meters inside the Indian Territory but had caved in due to rains in Chachwal village of Samba district.
- On August 23, 2014, Indian troops detected another trans-border tunnel that ran 50 meters inside the Indian territory in the Chakla area near Munawar Tawi in Akhnoor.
- On March 3, 2016, another trans-border tunnel originating from Pakistan was detected 30 metres inside the Indian Territory near Allah Mai De Kothe post of the BSF in the RS Pura sector of Jammu district.
- On February 14, 2017, the BSF detected another tunnel IB in the Ramgarh sector of Samba Samba district of Jammu province.
- On September 30, 2017, BSF detected an unfinished tunnel ahead of the border fence along IB in the Arnia belt of Jammu district during a search operation.
- On August 29, 2020, BSF detected a tunnel in Galad village of Samba district.
- On November 22, 2020, a patrolling party of BSF found a small tunnel in the Regal area of Samba on the IB. The tunnel was located close to the IB and was suspected to be used for infiltration.
- A 150-meter tunnel constructed along the IB to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir from Pakistan was detected by BSF in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district on January 13, 2021.
- The BSF had detected a secret underground tunnel in the Pansar border outpost in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district on January 23, 2021
Infiltrated from IB, terrorists attacked CISF bus on April 22
Two heavily-armed terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit were eliminated in a fierce gunfight by security forces after they attacked a bus carrying Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel in the Sunjwan area on the outskirts of Jammu on early April 22 morning.
As Assistant Sub-Inspector of the CISF has lost his life in the attack. Nine security personnel, including two policemen, were also injured in the gunfight.
Terrorists attacked the CISF bus two days ahead of the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Jammu on April 24.
