SRINAGAR: The Indian Army on Saturday discovered a secret tunnel in the forward area of Chakla, along Munawar Tawi in the Pallanwalla sector of Akhnoor area in Jammu.

The tunnel was discovered following the India-Pakistan border skirmishes on Friday which left two dead and six injured, sources in the Indian Army said..

The Army confirmed the reports about the tunnel’s detection late Saturday afternoon after initially denying it.

According to the reports, one end of the tunnel which is roughly 7-8 ft deep and 2.5 meters wide, was detected by the Indian Army in Pallanwala sector across Munnawar Tawi area of Akhnoor . Following the detection, the army officials pressed in JCB machines to find out the other end of the tunnel.

"On 22 August, army personnel deployed in Pallanwala sector of Jammu district during routine patrolling found a tunnel approximately 50 metres on the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC)," the Army spokesperson said.

The Jammu based Army PRO said, "The dimension of the tunnel leading towards Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is approximately two and a half feet wide and three and a half feet high."

However Army sources said that the tunnel appears to be incomplete and has no exit from the Indian side.

"It appears to be an incomplete tunnel and has no exit on the Indian side,” the PRO said, adding, "The troops are carrying out thorough search of the area to ascertain further details which is taking time due to existing minefields."

The sources in the Indian Army revealed that they are presently ascertaining whether the tunnel was being used for cross border infiltration or whether it was just a hiding place.

However, this is not the first instance of a secret tunnel being discovered by the army in the forward areas of Jammu region.Only a couple of years back, a tunnel dug about 500 meters inside the Indian territory from Pakistan was also detected in the Chillyari area of Samba sector.

Following its detection, on May 4 this year, the Border Security Force (BSF) authorities had handed over a protest note to Pakistan Rangers regarding the tunnel along IB in Samba district, which is also the latest alignment point of the 400-meter long cross-border tunnel found in July 2012.

A caved-in portion of a 3X3 tunnel in Chillyari border belt in Samba district was found 23 metres away, inside Indian territory, from pillar number 170 on Zero-line at the international border when BSF was clearing up the bushes along the Zero-line.

Also, on August 4, 2009, the Army had discovered another one when heavy rains led to caving in of the tunnel along LoC in Pallanwala. The tunnel was intersecting the vicinity of Pakistan's Mango Post and the PP2 Post on the Indian side. The discovery was made after a Lashkar terrorist, captured from Kupwara, made the revelation during his interrogation.

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