A low intensity explosion took place in a State-run bus in Kurukshetra, Haryana on Thursday afternoon, injuring eight people. The incident is third of its kind reported in Haryana since January this year. The two other blasts occurred in empty passenger trains in Panipat on January 16 and May 13.
A senior government official told The Hindu that the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) used in all the three blasts were “replicas” of each other. Another official said they were investigating a ‘terror’ angle.
Bus blastThursday’s incident took place in a Haryana Roadways bus around 2.30 p.m. near Peepli in Kurukshetra enroute from Sonepat to Chandigarh. The bus was not very crowded when the blast took place. The low intensity IED was placed on an open rack, above the passenger seat. Eight people have received injuries,” Simardeep Singh, SP, Kurukshetra told The Hindu . He added that the police have recovered batteries and the circuit used in the IED and sent it for forensic examination.
The Haryana Government has constituted a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the three explosions. The State government will also seek the help of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Rahul Sharma, SP, Panipat told The Hindu , “The two explosions reported in trains in January and May were not only similar in nature but the IEDs were also planted at the same place. Both the trains originated from Delhi and their destination was Panipat. Curiously the IEDs were planted at the same spot in the empty coaches and it exploded after everyone had disembarked.”
Officials were also investigating if the IEDs failed to explode in time. “At this point, we cannot say that any particular terror group was involved in the blasts. We have some leads and we are working on it,” Mr Sharma said.
The State government has also decided to grant financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to the injured persons.
