Amritsar attack may have ISI link, says Captain Amarinder Singh

A grenade attack at Nirankari Bhawan in Amritsar on Sunday left three people dead and over 20 injured. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Two days after a grenade attack blamed on terrorists rocked Amritsar, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh blamed the Pakistani intelligence for fomenting trouble in the state.

“One Bikramjit Singh has been arrested and search for another accused, Avtar Singh, is on,” Singh said after the grenade attack on Sunday killed three people and injured over 20.

The chief minister showed photographs of the two accused and assured that the second person would be nabbed soon.

“Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is quite active in fomenting trouble in Punjab and the grenade attack in Amritsar was a pure act of terrorism,” Singh added.

Three people, including a preacher, were killed and over 20 injured when men riding on two motorcycles threw a grenade on a religious congregation on the outskirts of Amritsar on Sunday, an incident which police are treating as a terrorist act.

The incident had taken place inside the Nirankari Bhawan’s prayer hall at Adliwal village near Amritsar’s Rajasansi village.

Eyewitnesses said two men on a motorcycle, with their faces covered, hurled a grenade at the Nirankari Bhawan, where a religious ceremony was underway, before fleeing.

On Friday and Saturday, the local police and intelligence agencies had sounded a warning that a group of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists had entered the state and were “planning to move towards Delhi.”

The attack was carried out even as a red alert was sounded across the state.

While Amarinder Singh has been reviewing the law and order situation in the state, the Union home ministry also said that it was keeping a watch on security developments.

Source:https://www.livemint.com/Politics/nR5UxkA9z1Oxn0fzaDAhcM/Amritsar-attack-may-have-ISI-link-says-Captain-Amarinder-Si.html