'Who is trying to destabilise Punjab?': Twin blasts rock Indian state; explosions near Jalandhar BSF HQ and Amritsar army camp

Punjab was placed on heightened security alert Tuesday (May 5) night after two separate explosions rocked military installations within hours of each other, one outside the BSF headquarters in Jalandhar and another near an Army camp in Amritsar, prompting a swift multi-agency response and raising urgent questions about security in a sensitive border state. No casualties have been confirmed in either incident, but the back-to-back nature of the blasts has set off alarm bells across security agencies, who are now investigating whether the two incidents are connected.

Blast outside BSF headquarters in Jalandhar

The first explosion occurred at approximately 8:15 PM near BSF Chowk in Jalandhar, where a scooter parked outside the Punjab Frontier headquarters of the Border Security Force caught fire. Eyewitnesses in the crowded area reported hearing a loud blast-like sound before the vehicle went up in flames, sending people running for safety. CCTV footage from the scene shows at least one person sprinting for cover as the fire erupted.

The scooter's rider was identified as 22-year-old Gurpreet Singh, a delivery agent who visits the area daily to drop off parcels, reports PTI. According to a relative, Gurpreet was approaching his parked vehicle when it suddenly caught fire, after which he called his father to report the incident. Police said he is cooperating fully with investigators.

Jalandhar Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur, who reached the scene personally, stopped short of classifying the incident as a deliberate blast. "Prima facie, the facts are that a scooter parked here caught fire. We are still verifying the situation on the ground," she said, adding that the possibility of an explosion had not been ruled out. Forensic teams, a dog squad and a bomb disposal unit have all been deployed.

What happened in Amritsar?

Just over two hours after the alarming blast in Jalandhar, at around 10:30 PM, a second explosion was reported near an Army camp in the Khasa area of Amritsar. Residents said the blast was audible from as far as 1.5 kilometres away and powerful enough to shake the boundary walls of the camp. Security forces and forensic teams were immediately deployed to the site, which has since been cordoned off.

Investigators are now working to determine whether the two blasts are linked. Surveillance has been tightened across the region as agencies piece together the evidence from both sites.

'Deeply alarming': Who is trying to destabilise Punjab?

The incidents drew sharp political reactions. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring called the situation "deeply alarming" and accused both the AAP-led state government and the BJP-led Centre of negligence. "A blast in a delivery scooter in a crowded area exposes a serious collapse of law and order," he wrote on X. "Punjab is a sensitive border state; such incidents raise grave national security concerns."

In another X post, he questioned, "Who is trying to destabilise our state? Why has the Punjab Government failed to prevent such incidents? What is the Government of India doing?"

Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia pointed to what he described as a troubling pattern. "From the Shambhu railway track to the busy BSF Chowk in Jalandhar, continuous blasts within a week — has Punjab's security completely failed?" he asked.