Three killed, three injured in bomb blast

Patiala, July 3 (UNI) Three people, including two children, were killed and as many injured when a bomb shell exploded in the house of a rickshaw puller in Ram Nagar locality, near SST Nagar, here this afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Gurmit Singh alias Gogi (20), his niece Raji (8) and Deepak (3).

The injured were identified as Gurmit Singh's father Gulab Singh, a rickshaw puller, his mother Gurmit Kaur and brother Sonu who was critically wounded and referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

Police said Sonu had brought some waste material in a bag from a factory of motorcycle spares, where he was working, situated in the Urban Estate area.

Gurmit Singh and Sonu were trying to open the shell of bomb like object in their room in order to extract brass from it when it suddenly went off, resulting in the casualities.

Initial reports had stated that the blast occurred at a scrap dealer's house when the children opened a scrap bag containig and were playing with bomb like object.

Police have started an investigation and ruled out the possibility of any militant activity.

UNI