8 hurt in blast in roadways bus at Pipli

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Pipli (Kurukshetra), May 26

Eight passengers sustained burn injuries in a blast inside a moving Haryana Roadways bus on National Highway-1 at Pipli here this afternoon. The injured were admitted to the civil hospitals of Kurukshetra and Pipli, where there condition was stated to be stable.

The explosion, that took place near the Tau Devi Lal Park, damaged window panes in the middle section of the Sonepat depot bus that was on its way to Chandigarh. The driver managed to bring the bus to a halt immediately.

Police recovered a battery that may have been used to trigger the explosion and was probably hidden in a bag inside the bus, that was filled with smoke after the blast.

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Preliminary investigations revealed that it was an incendiary bomb prepared by trained hands. A time device was apparently used to trigger the explosion, that had an uncanny similarity with the May 12 low-intensity blast inside an empty train at the Panipat railway station. In January, too, a blast was triggered in the Panipat-Ambala passenger train stationed on a platform in Panipat. In 2014, a combustible bomb was planted in a train in Rewari.

Officials of the district police, Intelligence and ballistic experts rushed to the spot. A team of the National Investigating Agency was also expected to visit the site.

“There is a definite pattern in the bomb incidents where the perpetrators had employed a similar technique of triggering an explosion. Such explosions cause maximum damage as the chemicals used in crackers are used in incendiary bombs. Similar bombs were used in the Samjhauta train blast,” a source privy to the investigation said.

Haryana forms SIT

Chandigarh: Haryana has constituted a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by ADGP (Crime) SS Kapoor to investigate the three cases of explosion in Kurukshetra on Thursday and in Panipat on May 13 and January 16. The government has also decided to seek the help of NIA. Meanwhile, Transport Minister Krishan Lal Panwar visited the injured in Kurukshetra and announced an assistance of Rs 50,000 to each of the injured. He said the driver and conductor would be given letters of appreciation for the way they helped the injured. TNS