Amritsar: Three persons were killed and several others injured in a grenade attack on a religious congregation here on Sunday, November 18, police said.
The grenade was lobbed by bike-borne persons at a religious congregation of ‘Nirankaris’ which was being held inside the Nirankari Bhavan at Adhiwala village near Amritsar’s Rajasansi, close to the international airport, police said.
“A grenade has been lobbed and 5-10 persons have been injured in the incident,” a senior Punjab police official, who visited the incident spot, told reporters.
Three persons were killed in the incident, the official said.
Punjab was on alert following an input claiming that a group of six to seven JeM terrorists were reportedly in the state, possibly in Ferozepur area.
The state was put on alert after four persons snatched an SUV from its driver at gunpoint near Madhopur in Pathankot district last week.
Punjab police said Sunday the attack appears to be a “terrorist act”.
“It (this incident) appears to have a terror angle. Because it is against a group (of people) and it is not against any individual. There is no reason to throw a hand grenade on a group of people, so we will take it as a terrorist act. Till proven otherwise, prima facie we will take it as that,” Punjab director general of police Suresh Arora told PTI.
To a question, the DGP said there was no specific input about any possible attack on Nirankari Bhavan.
“There was no issue with this group as such There was no specific input on (Nirankari Bhavan),” he said.
“A grenade was lobbed and three people have died in the incident while 10 have been injured in the incident, two of them critically,” Inspector General of Police S.S. Parmar, who visited the incident spot, told reporters.
He said about 200 devotees were inside at the time of the attack. No CCTV camera was installed at the premises, preliminary investigations found, he said.
“We have launched relief and rescue operations,” he said.
After the attack, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh reviewed the law and order situation and directed the home secretary, DGP (Law and Order) and DG Intelligence to rush to Rajasansi to supervise investigations.
(PTI)