3 dead in Amritsar attack, police not ruling out terror link
Three people were killed and 20 others injured in a grenade attack on a religious congregation on the city outskirts on Sunday, an incident the police are treating as a “terrorist act”.
The incident took place inside the Nirankari Bhavan at Adliwal village near Amritsar’s Rajasansi, police said.
A religious congregation of the Nirankaris was being conducted inside the Bhavan at the time of the incident. The Sant Nirankari Mission is a spiritual organisation and the Bhavan lies close to the international airport.
The grenade was lobbed by two people who came on a bike and had their faces covered.
The Director General of Police, Suresh Arora, who along with senior police officers rushed to the spot, said the incident appeared to be a “terrorist act”. He said three people had died in the incident and 20 others were injured, two of them seriously.
Inspector General of Police S S Parmar, who visited the incident spot, told reporters that about 200 devotees, including many women, were inside at the time of the incident. No CCTV was installed on the premises, preliminary investigations found, he said.
After the incident, the Bhavan was sealed by the police and security was stepped up at other “Nirankari Bhavans” in the state.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said the possibility of involvement of ISIbased Khalistani/Kashmiri terror groups could not be ruled out. Singh said the state will not let the “forces of terror” to destroy the hard earned peace.
Punjab had gone through dark days of militancy in the 1980sandearly1990sandfaced fewterrorattacksinrecentyears including the one in Pathankot over two years ago.
After the incident, the chief minister asked the home secretary, DG Police, DG law and order, and DG intelligence to immediately rush to Adliwal village, Raja Sansi, to personally supervise the investigations into the grenade attack at Nirankari Bhawan.
The chief minister has also directed the police to immediately enhance security arrangements at all sensitive places in the wake of the explosion.
Punjab has seen militancy in the 1980s and early 1990s and faced few terror attacks in recent years including one in Pathankot over two years ago