Punjab: Police do not rule out terror angle in Bhatinda blast
Three people were killed after a bomb exploded in Bhatinda on Tuesday.
Chandigarh,
Feb
1:
The
blast
in
which
three
people
were
killed
in
Bathinda
in
poll
bound
Punjab
was
aimed
at
targeting
Congress
candidate,
Harminder
Singh,
preliminary
investigations
have
suggested.
On
Tuesday
three
persons
were
killed
and
15
others
were
injured
following
a
powerful
car
explosion.
The
incident
took
place
at
Maur
Mandi,
about
200
km
from
Chandigarh,
close
to
where
Congress
candidate
Harminder
Jassi
was
addressing
a
rally.
SDM
Latif
Ahmed
confirmed
three
deaths
due
to
the
blast.
Punjab
will
be
going
to
polls
on
February
4.
The
police
are
probing
two
versions
currently.
The
police
is
not
ruling
out
the
possibility
of
the
incident
being
a
terrorist
attack.
The
use
of
improvised
explosive
devices
is
also
not
being
ruled
out.
The
police
are
also
looking
into
the
possibility
of
it
being
a
cylinder
blast
since
the
vehicle
was
running
on
LPG.
Singh, a candidate from Maur could have been the targeted, informed sources say. Some persons have reported to the police that Singh's vehicle was shot at as well. The police say that they do not rule out the possibility of the blast being timed when Singh's vehicle was passing through the area.
The police is also verifying the material that they have found at the blast site. There were broken metal pieces and could either be part of the LPG cylinder or a pressure cooker. Officials said that the IEDs could have been planted in a pressure cooker. The metal pieces have been sent for forensic examination.
The police say that the car was parked on the side at the spot where an election rally had been held. In fact the car remained there despite the rally getting over and this has led to further suspicion.
OneIndia News