Rocket-propelled attack shakes Mohali

Mohali, May 10: A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) was fired at the Punjab Police’s Intelligence headquarters in Mohali on Monday evening, triggering a blast at the site, a senior officer told media.

 

 

 

Punjab DGP Viresh Kumar Bhawra, who reached the spot, told media that there was no report of any injury caused by the attack, which occurred around 7.45 pm. Bhawra said further investigations were on.

 

 

 

According to the senior officer, who confirmed the attack, a wall of the building bore the maximum impact with shattered window panes strewn inside. “The RPG was fired at a distance from the main entrance by unidentified persons who are believed to have fled in a vehicle. A car was spotted moving from the site the moment the RPG was fired,” the officer said. A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system that fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Officers on the site said the weapon was ‘made in China’ as per the lot number written on it. Soon after the blast, Mohali was sealed and Quick Reaction Teams from Chandigarh Police reached the spot along with SSP KS Chahal. There was heavy police deployment at the site after the blast, with a bomb disposal squad and forensic teams on the spot. The building houses the offices of several senior officers, including those holding IG rank. The office is in the middle of a densely populated area with Maharaja Ranjit Singh Armed Forces Preparatory academy next to it. The Sohana hospital is in its vicinity and a school is at its rear. Police were also searching the residential area around the office.

 

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A police officer said that senior officers had left the office when the attack took place and that other staff on night duty were present. The blast comes close on the heels of the arrest of several suspected terror operatives from Punjab and Haryana recently, and the recovery of an explosive device near the Burail jail in Chandigarh on April 24. While Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann or his ruling Aam Aadmi Party was yet to react at the time of going to press, former CM and Punjab Lok Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh expressed shock at the incident. “This brazen attack on our police force is deeply concerning,” he said in a tweet, urging Mann “to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice at the earliest”.