Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 24: January 2, 2016 sensational terror attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants at Pathankot air base in which seven security personnel were martyred and five attackers were killed in three-day long operation, appeared to have its linkages in the terror tunnel detected yesterday by the BSF in Pansar area of Hiranagar sector in Kathua district as Qasim Jan, the mastermind of Pathankot and other terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir has been spotted at Shakargarh, just opposite the tunnel.
Further, investigations into Pathankot air base terror attack had taken agencies to infiltration route in Hiranagar sector, sources told the Excelsior.
Updated Jan 24, 2021 | 01:04 IST
This 8-year-old secret terror tunnel constructed by Pakistan Army s Engineering unit is 150 meters long and 30 feet deep. Representational Image
72-hours ahead of Republic Day celebrations, alert Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, detected eight-year-old secret terror tunnel near Panesar Border Outpost (BOP) in Kathua sector.
With the detection of this tunnel, BSF has solved the mystery shrouding several terror attacks in the past on security installations along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway.
On specific intelligence inputs, the BSF had initiated anti tunnelling drive near Panesar BOP. During the process, a 150-metre long and 30 feet deep tunnel - between BOP 14 and 15 in Panesar area along the international border (IB) - used by a Pakistani intelligence agency to infiltrate terrorists into Indian side was located, said N S Jamwal, IG BSF Jammu Frontier.