After Jalandhar, another blast near Army Cantt in Amritsar

Amritsar/Jalandhar: Back-to-back explosions near security installations in Punjab have triggered panic, raised fresh security concerns and put agencies on high alert. Within three hours of a blast outside the BSF Punjab Frontier headquarters in Jalandhar, a powerful explosion occurred near the Army cantonment in the Khasa area of Amritsar around 11 pm on Tuesday. Officials said the blast originated from a two-wheeler parked against the boundary wall of the Army campus, located across the road leading to the Attari-Wagah international border. No casualties or injuries have been reported. The explosion, described by locals as "deafening," sent shockwaves through nearby residential areas, forcing residents to rush from their homes in fear. The impact damaged tin sheets fixed to the outer walls of the establishment. Director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav, who visited both the Jalandhar and Amritsar sites on Wednesday, told the media that while no group has claimed responsibility for the Amritsar blast, a "non-existent organisation" calling itself Khalistan Liberation Army took credit for the Jalandhar incident. He said there were "some Pakistan's ISI henchmen who were getting such acts carried out by misleading the youth". "We assume that, given the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, this is part of a design by Pakistan's ISI to cause disruption in Punjab," he said, adding, "Punjab is fighting a proxy war on behalf of India against Pakistan." India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025, in retaliation for the April 22 terrorist attack in a meadow outside Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. Asserting that "Punjab is the most peaceful state in the country," the DGP said, "ISI is trying to create a fake narrative that Punjab is disturbed. We will crush the handful of elements who are trying to vitiate the atmosphere at the behest of the ISI." The DGP said police, BSF, and Army teams reached the spot within minutes. He held a joint meeting with Army officials and reviewed the security situation in a separate briefing with the police commissioner and senior officials of the Amritsar border range. An FIR has been registered. In Jalandhar, while the DGP did not address the media, police commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur confirmed that explosive material was used in the blast that occurred just yards from the entrance of the BSF Punjab Frontier headquarters, a busy stretch leading to the main entrance of Jalandhar city. In addition to BSF personnel at the gate, a Punjab Police naka is stationed near the BSF Chowk. The commissioner said that forensic teams have collected samples for laboratory analysis and technical investigations, involving CCTV footage, are underway. "We have solid leads," she added. A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team also visited the site to coordinate with local police. Police sources said Gurpreet Singh, a delivery boy whose scooter caught fire in the Jalandhar blast, was questioned, but nothing incriminating was found. Gurpreet's father, Kashmir Singh, a BSF veteran, on Tuesday said his son regularly delivers parcels to the BSF headquarters. "He called me saying he had just stepped away from his scooter when the blast occurred. He felt someone may have thrown a bomb," Kashmir Singh had said.