Amritsar grenade attack likely orchestrated by 2 local youth: Sources

Chandigarh: Local youth hand is suspected in the Amritsar grenade attack that claimed three lives and left over 20 injured on Sunday. The police are treating the incident as a "terrorist act".

Sources revealed that cops are now investigating the involvement of two local youth.

These youth reportedly surveyed the ashram premises twice and were aware that religious congregation took place on Sundays. Further, Khalisthan-supported outfits supplied the grenades, used in the attack, to the youth, added sources.

On Sunday afternoon, two motorcycle-borne men, with long beards, threw the grenade on a religious congregation on city outskirt inside the Nirankari Bhavan's prayer hall at Adliwal village near Amritsar's Rajasansi on the city outskirts.

The grenade was lobbed by one of the two people who had their faces covered. One person pointed a gun at the volunteers manning the gate, while the other hurled the grenade towards the stage where main preacher Sukhdev Kumar was present and then escaped, police and eyewitnesses said. 

Three people had died in the incident and 20 were injured, two of them seriously, he said.

The Sant Nirankari Mission is a spiritual organisation and the Bhavan here is located close to the international airport and Indo-Pak border.

No CCTV was installed at the premises, a preliminary probe found. 

According to intelligence sources, ISI-based Khalistani groups in UK and Canada are funding riots and target killings in Punjab.

While Punjab was already on high alert, the vigil has been stepped up in the state, especially border districts, including Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur.

The attack took place while Punjab was on high alert after an input claiming "a group of six-seven JeM terrorists were in Punjab" and they were "planning to move to Delhi".

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will visit the site of the grenade attack on Tuesday for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation. He also announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh for information leading to the arrest of the suspects involved in the blast. "The information can be provided by calling the police helpline number - 181. The identity of the informers will be kept secret," said Media Advisor to Punjab CM.

With agency inputs