1 injured in explosion at Ghaziabad police outpost top cop says all angles being probed

     Ghaziabad (UP), Nov7 (PTI) A blast in a police outpost in Ghaziabad left a person injured, prompting authorities to rush the Anti-Terrorist Squad and bomb disposal teams to the site, police said on Saturday.

     Police are verifying a social media post by an organisation named "Tehrik Ul Mujahideen", which has claimed responsibility for the blast that occurred late Friday night, damaging the window panes of the Vasundhara police outpost under Indirapuram police station. The explosion happened near the police outpost's boundary wall, they said.

     Ghaziabad Police Commissioner J Ravindra Gaur said all possible angles are being investigated.

     Police said a food delivery person present at the police outpost, Vishal, sustained minor injuries.

     The intensity and motive behind the blast are yet unclear, but police have indicated the probe will include a possible terrorist angle.

     Forensic teams collected samples from the spot and have sent them to the Agra lab for investigation, a police officer said. CCTV cameras are being checked to identify the accused.

     Police commissioner Gaur and other officers visited the spot and the entire outpost was cordoned off to enable police and security agencies to carry out investigations.

     Gaur briefly interacted with the media after visiting the blast site.

     "The ongoing investigation will include all facts and will form the basis of the findings," Gaur said.

     He said that a police sub-inspector and a delivery person were present at the outpost when the blast took place at the outpost boundary wall.

     "A delivery person received minor injuries during the incident. All evidence has been collected from the scene," he said, adding that investigating agencies, including the bomb disposal and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) forensic team and local police, were jointly on the job.

     BJP MLA from Loni Nand Kishor Gurjar reacted to the blast in a social media post.

     "A terrorist organisation, Tehrik Ul Mujahideen, has taken responsibility for the blast at the Vasundhara police station in Indirapuram. If police investigations confirm this, the Yogi Adityanath government's police will destroy the terrorists behind it," the BJP legislator said in a video statement.

     "Those behind it will be brought to book and Prime Minister Narendra Modi won't hesitate even if it means sending the Army to Pakistan," he said.

     The MLA also advised people in Ghaziabad to celebrate Diwali without fear.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)