New Delhi : The Border Security Force (BSF) has found strong evidence that the four Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants killed in the Nagrota encounter on 19 November entered Jammu and Kashmir through a 200-meter-long tunnel from Pakistan. It has been reported that the terrorists had professionally prepared a 200-meter long and 8-meter deep professional tunnel through which they had infiltrated into Indian border from the international border.
The site of the tunnel was 12–14 inches in diameter at the Indian end, about 160 meters long from the international border and it is estimated that it was about 40 meters long at the Pakistani border. According to top security officials, the tunnel was dug up anew and was used for the first time by four Jaish suicide bombers. The Anti-Terrorism Officer said that it seems that a proper engineering effort has been made to construct the tunnel.
The terrorists had a Taiwan-made GPS device with which they entered the Indian border, Indian agencies and BSF tracked the terrorists with the help of that device. The militants crossed the tunnel and came within 12 kilometers of the border and boarded a truck. The terrorists tried their best to destroy the data of the GPS device before it was killed by the security forces but the data was recovered.
The tunnel was traced by a team of seven BSF personnel working under the leadership of 48 BSF’s Deepak Rana, who started a search between 5.40 am and 7.50 am on Sunday morning. Data collected from the GPS indicates that the terrorist entered India just next to the 189 Border Pillar and close to the BSF Border Outpost Regal, which is located near Pillar 193.
The first waypoint found on the GPS is about one kilometer from the border. The terrorists then walked about 12 km on National Highway No 44, from where an army camp and railway track was removed and boarded the truck at midnight on 19 November. Security agencies were stationed at all the points of Jatwal village next to the highway, the terrorists riding in the truck then proceeded to Nagrota where the four Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were shot dead.
Attempts were made to catch the terrorists alive, but all the terrorists were commando trained. Intelligence agencies are now trying to search the mobiles recovered from the terrorists and the security agencies now have evidence to catch the attackers of Pakistan and Jaish. India will also stage vigorous protests with the Pakistani Rangers, who allowed infiltration under their surveillance.
