Twin blasts rock Jammu & Kashmir’s Udhampur district

Days ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit, twin blasts occurred in public transport buses in the Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir injuring two people.

The first blast in which two people were injured occurred in a bus parked near a petrol pump at Domail Chowk in Udhampur on Wednesday night, reports said. Other vehicles parked nearby were also damaged in the blast.

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Hours after the incident, the second blast occurred at 5.30 am on Thursday on another bus in the same district. However, no injury was reported in the blast. The bus in which the second blast occurred had come from Basantgarh in Udhampur district and was at night halt at the bus stand. It was scheduled to leave for Basantgarh in the morning, reports said.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Jammu, Mukesh Singh said that two back-to-back blasts occurred in Udhampur within a radius of two kilometres. “Preliminary investigations suggest that these were IED blasts,” he said.

Asked whether there was a possibility of the use of sticky bombs in the explosions, Singh said nothing can be ruled out.

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“We are exploring and working on some old leads. Army, Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) and teams from other agencies have reached the sites of explosions,” he said.

Meanwhile, reports said a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team has been sent to Udhampur to probe the incident. The team is likely to take over the twin blast case.

The incidents occurred just days ahead of the visit of Amit Shah starting on October 4. He was supposed to embark on a three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on September 30 and hold public meetings in Rajouri on October 1 and Baramulla on October 2. However, the visit has been rescheduled.