Two explosions in two days but fortunately a balance sheet without serious casualties or damage to the Golden Temple, a sacred site of the Sick religion, in the Indian city of Amritsar, according to the police.
The first explosion occurred on the night of Saturday to Sunday, leaving at least one injured in this city in the north of the state of Punjab, with a Sikh majority. The second, which caused no injuries, took place early Monday morning.
The director general of Punjab police said that the terrorist track was not ruled out and that the first elements of the investigation suggested that a rudimentary explosive device had been used.
“The explosion happened when a passerby accidentally pulled a rope,” said Gaurav Yadav. “The charge fell and exploded”.
The Golden Temple, erected within a vast artificial pond, is revered by Sikhs around the world.
But it was, on several occasions, the scene of violence, in particular when the Indian special forces stormed it in 1984 to drive out the Sikh militants who occupied it.
Worshipers told AFP that investigators arrived at the site on Monday to collect clues shortly after the explosion, which occurred when hundreds of people were already in the sanctuary.
“Events like this generate panic”, lamented Jasbir Singh Patti, a Sikh who goes to the temple every day, “it is time for the police administration to act quickly in order to present the truth to the public”.
Several windows were shattered at the time of the explosion which occurred in the same area during the night from Saturday to Sunday. The site had welcomed around 200,000 visitors on Saturday.
Authorities in Punjab arrested a separatist Sikh preacher in late April in the north of the state after a month-long hunt by thousands of agents.
Aged 30, Amritpal Singh has made a name for himself in recent months by demanding the creation of Khalistan, a state claimed by the Sikh separatists of Punjab, whose struggle had sparked violence in the 1980s and 1990s that caused thousands of dead. It was not possible to know if these recent explosions were linked to his arrest.