Security forces find cross-border tunnel likely used by Nagrota militants
Sources in the security forces on Sunday said a cross-border tunnel had been detected in Samba district in Jammu and Kashmir
Security forces have found a cross-border tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district that they suspect could have been used by the four Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants killed at Ban Toll Plaza near Nagrota along the Jammu-Srinagar national highway on Thursday morning.
The tunnel, approximately 5 ft x 5ft in diameter, had an outlet in a ground overrun with wild growth nearly 150 metres inside the Indian side, in Regal area.
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The tunnel was discovered when security forces were clearing wild growth in areas along the international border after intelligence inputs said the slain militants had entered the Union Territory through the Samba sector.
A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including 11 AK assault rifles, three pistols, 29 grenades, and six UBGL grenades were recovered from terrorists, who, according to the police, had come to execute a “big plan” to disrupt the District Development Council polls in Jammu and Kashmir, which will be held in eight phases beginning November 28.
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India had on Saturday summoned the Charge d’Affaires (Cd’A) of the Pakistan High Commission and lodged a strong protest against the country’s support for terrorism. It demanded that Islamabad “desists from its policy of supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from its territory”, the MEA said in a statement.
“The huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosive material indicate detailed planning for a major attack to destabilise the peace and security in the UT of J&K, in particular, to derail the ongoing democratic exercise of conduct of local DDC elections. The MEA summoned Pakistan Cd’A and a strong protest was lodged at the attempted attack, which was only prevented from happening by the alertness of the Indian security forces,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement rejected the charge and “expressed hope that India would desist from making any miscalculation.” Soon after India lodged protest, Pakistan also summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Indian High Commission.