3 dead, 19 injured in blast at Amritsar's Nirankari Bhawan; alert in Punjab, Haryana

All the roads leading towards border from Amritsar have been sealed following the massive blast at the religious place in Rajasansi.

New Delhi: Three people have died and 15 injured in a blast at a religious gathering at Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar’s Rajasansi village on Sunday afternoon. As per officials, two masked men on motorcycle lobbed explosives, supposedly grenade, inside the premises of the Bhawan around an hour back. Though the police have not officially named anyone or suspected any organisation for the act, they have confirmed that the attack has no connection with terrorist Zakir Moosa, whose reported movement in the state had put the administration on alert. The sources in police have however  revealed that foreign fundamentalist groups are suspected to be behind the attack. IG (Border) Surinder Pal Singh Parmar said "the incident took place at around 11:00- 11:15 am when two bikers came riding a Bajaj Platina motorcycle and lobbed grenade here. Out of 250 people who were present in the religious congregation, 3 are dead and 15-20 are injured." An alert has been issued in Punjab following the blast and also in the neighboring state of Haryana. All the roads leading towards border from Amritsar have also been sealed. security has also been beefed up for Nirankari Bhawan. Those injured have been rushed to nearby hospital and an investigation has been initiated. Senor police officials and forensic experts have reached the spot.  A team of dog squad has also reached the spot.

BREAKING: 3 feared dead in blast at #Rajasansi religious '#dera' in #Amritsar, as unidentified bikers throw explosives in its premises. LIVE: https://t.co/DklVA2kRqn pic.twitter.com/5noAwJybzS

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) November 18, 2018

At the Nirankari ‘dera’ place a ‘satsang’ (sermon) is organised every Sunday which is attended by a large number of people. Witnesses related that while people were attending satsang inside Nirankari Dera, two bikers halted outside the place and lobbed grenade inside the premises, which was followed by a loud explosion .The men on bike also pointed a pistol towards the place before hurling the explosive, witnesses said. Alert about terrorist Zakir Moosa: The attack comes at a time when the state administration was already on alert following information about the presence wanted terrorist of Zakir Moosa in the state. The police has confirmed that the attack has no connection with Zakir Moosa. Just a couple of days ago the Punjab Police had  released his posters after intelligence agencies informed the police about his movements near Amritsar.