Grenade blast near Pathankot Army camp; police term it 'terror attack'

A grenade blast occurred near the gate of the Army cantonment here, following which an alert has been sounded in the border district, police said on Monday.
No casualty was reported in the incident that took place on Sunday night and was termed a 'terror attack' by the police.

No casualty was reported in the blast that took place on Sunday night, they said.

Some unidentified persons on a motorcycle hurled the grenade in front of the Triveni Dwar of the military area near Dheerapul, police said. 

Asked what kind of grenade was used in the attack, director general of police Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota told PTI, "It was a Chinese-made P-86 grenade."

The police said they are examining CCTV footage of the area to identify the assailants.

"The CCTV footage is being analysed," said Pathankot senior superintendent of police Surendra Lamba. 

Some parts of the hand grenade have been recovered from the site and a forensic team has collected samples, the SSP said.

After the blast, an alert has been sounded in the district and vehicles were being checked at various points in and around Pathankot.

Checking of vehicles was intensified at various points in and around the district.

A case under relevant sections of the Explosives Act has been registered in connection with the incident, the police said.

The Pathankot police and Army personnel conducted a search operation near the border area under Narot Jaimal Singh police station after some villagers claimed to have noticed some suspicious people on Sunday.

After information was received, the search operation was conducted with the help of a drone, a police official said.

Notably, the Pathankot Air Force base was attacked by terrorists in January 2016. Another terror attack took place at a police station in Dinanagar in neighbouring Gurdaspur district in July 2015.

Earlier on Monday, Punjab deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said he had called a meeting of senior officers of the Amritsar border zone and the Jalandhar zone on Tuesday to review the law and order situation and security in the state.

Randhawa, who also holds the home portfolio, also issued strict instructions to the police to increase night patrolling in the state.

At least one-third of the gazetted officers in each commissionerate or district will be deputed for patrolling according to a roster.

In a statement, Randhawa said that it has come to his notice that adequate police patrolling was not being carried out during the night.

He said at least one-third of the officers should be on patrolling duty during the night and "I can randomly check the location of the duty officer at any time by making a video call to the concerned".

Security of the state will not be compromised at any cost and strict action will be initiated against negligent officers, he said.