LUDHIANA: Terror struck Ludhiana tonight when at least six people were killed and 25 others injured in a blast in one of the three cinema halls in a multiplex located in a busy shopping area of this industrial town.
It was not immediately known what caused the explosion in the hall in the multiplex in Sarmala road which was teeming with hundreds of people on a festive Sunday evening. "Janan Janam Ke Saath" was being screened in the hall which has a capacity for an audience of 600 when the explosion occurred at 8.40 pm.
The evening show had started at 7 pm. Police did not rule out the hand of terrorists in the blast but said the casualties could go up. Limbs of some of the dead were seen dismembered. Chandrashekar, ADGP(Law and Order) said the blast appeared to have been caused by a bomb. DIG Ludhiana Ishwar Singh said six people had died and over 25 injured, half of whom were critical. The victims were yet to be identified.
"The cause of the blast is yet to be ascertained," Ishwar Singh said. DGP N P Singh said four persons died on the spot while two died in the hospital. He said one person had come inside the theatre during interval time and the needle of suspicion is on him.
Low intensity explosives were used, N P Singh said, adding it is too early to name any terror outfit who could be behind the blast. Windowpanes in the multiplex were smashed while several chairs were destroyed. Punjab was in a state of high alert after the recent bomb blast in the revered Dargah in Ajmer.
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