He added that the blast was caused by one to three kg of high-intensity explosive, probably RDX, concealed in a crate of apples kept in the compartment in Jammu. Interestingly, only on Friday, the DGP had ruled out the hand of Punjab militants in the blast.

"We are very concerned. While the incident took place in Himachal Pradesh, it was targeted at us. The message was clear, to have a blast in Punjab in which Army and CRPF men were killed," the DGP stated. He ruled out any possibility of Union Minister Shanta Kumar being the target of the blast.

He revealed that the KZF had always had links with Kashmiri militants as it comprised Sikhs from the Jammu region. KZF chief Ranjit Singh Nita had till recently been based in Pakistan but there have been some reports of his presencethis side of the border. The KZF has a base in Gurdaspur and a militant from that group, Atarjit Singh, had been arrested last year in that district.

Refusing to comment on whether there was an increase in militant activity following the coup in Pakistan, he further stated, "There is no mass base for terrorism in Punjab but over the course of the past nine months since I took over, there has been a continuous thrust in militant activity. There has recently been a sudden influx of Pakistani nationals involved in such activities in Punjab. There have been arrests in Jalandhar, Amritsar andFerozepur."