E-Paper
Little known Khalistan outfit claims responsibility for blast at Amritsar police station
A poster, widely shared on Whatsapp and other social media platforms, stated that the organisation did so to avenge the killing of 19-year-old Ranjit Singh, one of the suspects said to be involved in the murder of two cops in Gurdaspur district over a month ago.
A day after an explosion took place outside the Bhindi Saidan police station in Amritsar district, a poster has gone viral on social media wherein the responsibility has been claimed by an organisation— the Khalistan Liberation Army. No one was injured in the blast that occurred at around 1.30 am on Monday.
A poster, widely shared on Whatsapp and other social media platforms, stated that the organisation did so to avenge the killing of 19-year-old Ranjit Singh, one of the suspects said to be involved in the murder of two cops in Gurdaspur district over a month ago. HT couldn’t independently verify the veracity of the post. The cops were murdered at the behest of Pakistan-based ISI, security officials had said. Ranjit was killed during a police encounter which his family had termed fake.
Police officials didn’t comment on the poster. Despite repeated efforts, Amritsar (rural) SSP Suhail Mir did not respond to phone calls.
After the blast, police officials had said that a forensic investigation was underway.
10th since November 2024
This was the 10th such incident since November 2024 across the state, especially in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts. On November 23, 2024, an explosion took place in Gurbaksh Nagar of Amritsar. Also an IED was found planted outside Ajnala police station. On December 2, 2024, a hand grenade was lobbed at the Ansaro police post in Nawanshahr. Two days later (December 4), a blast occurred at the Majitha police station in Amritsar.
On December 13, 2024, a similar incident was reported from Batala. On December 17, 2024 an explosion was reported at the Islamabad police station in Amritsar. On December 18, 2024, a blast took place outside the Bakshiwal police post in Gurdaspur.
On December 20, 2024, another blast took place at Wadala Bangar police post in Gurdaspur. On January 9 last year, a similar explosion took place at Gumtala police post in Amritsar city. Punjab Police SSOC’s Amritsar unit recognised it as a grenade attack and claimed to have busted a Pakistan’s ISI-backed narco terror-module.
On February 3, 2025, another explosion took place at a non-operational police post at Fatehgarh Churian bypass. Police officers had termed these actions a handy work of Pakistan-based handlers.
Encounter and arrests
On December 23, 2024, three suspects accused of throwing grenades at police posts in Gurdaspur were gunned down during an encounter in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit.
On December 30, 2024, Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said that eight bomb blast incidents targeting police installations had been solved. He said 14 accused belonging to the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) had been arrested.
