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