Terror angle not ruled out in Punjab's Tarn Taran blast

The Punjab Police on Thursday sought the help of the NIA and the NSG to ascertain the nature of the explosion in Tarn Taran district that left two people dead and one injured, saying terror links could not be ruled out at this stage.

The explosion took place in an agricultural field near Kaler village in Tarn Taran on Wednesday evening.

Police approached the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the National Security Guard (NSG) to examine the explosion site and ascertain the nature and the cause of the blast, officials said.

"At this stage, we are not ruling out anything, including terror angle," Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta told PTI on Thursday evening.

It has to be ascertained if it was "sophisticated explosive material, low grade or high grade material" that caused the blast, he said.

In the initial investigations, it was indicated that there was no use of any Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in this incident.

A team of the NIA reached the blast site earlier in the day and carried out an investigation.

Police has found two pits in the field where the explosion took place, officials said.

Two persons were killed and one was seriously injured in this incident and all of them were in their twenties.

Police are also looking into the background of the victims, the DGP said.

"We will question the injured once his condition improves," he added.

A post-blast investigation team of the NSG was yet to reach the site, the DGP said. He had called up the DG of the NSG, seeking assistance.

Expert teams of counter-terror and forensic units of the Punjab Police were also dispatched, the officials said.

It is suspected that the trio was digging in the field when the explosion took place.

Sniffer dog squads have been deployed in the area, police said.

Notably, in November 2018, a grenade attack took place at the Nirankari Bhawan in Adliwal village of Amritsar that left three people dead and several injured.