Blast-like Sound Heard In Punjab's Amritsar

The blast was heard near "non-functional" police post at the Fatehgarh Churian road bypass in Amritsar.

Amritsar:In another explosion near police installations in Punjab, a blast-like sound was heard near "non-functional" police post at the Fatehgarh Churian road bypass in Amritsar district of the state on Monday evening, officials said.

Following the blast, the State Special Operation Cell Amritsar led by Amarjit Singh reached the spot and cordoned the area for investigation.

Amritsar Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar also reached Fatehgarh Churian Road and ruled out a grenade attack angle to the blast. "This is not a grenade attack, every attack is being projected as a grenade attack. If there was a grenade attack, there would have been a big loss," Bhullar said.

He said that there was a non-functional police checkpoint at the place where the blast took place. "There was definitely a sound of explosion but we cannot say anything about what caused the blast. Our police team had set up a checkpoint here and the police post has been closed for a long time. The sound of the explosion was heard from a long distance from the police checkpoint. We are investigating the case," he added.

Punjab has seen a series of blasts near police installations since November last year.

On November 24 last year,RDX and had grenades were recovered by security forces outside Ajnala police station. Police arrested two suspects in the case. Three days later on November 27, a grenade blast took place at a non-functional police post in Gurbaksh Nagar.

December saw five blasts while there was one blast in January as well.