Barely three days after a blast at the Ajmer Sharif dargah, a powerful explosion rocked a cinema hall in Ludhiana on Sunday night —- after peaceful Id festivities throughout the country —- killing at least seven persons and injuring about 40. A 10-year-old child was among those killed.

Eyewitnesses however claimed there were two blasts in close succession, around 8.30 pm, just after the interval.

The victims were mainly migrants from other states who were watching a 7 pm show of Bhojpuri film Janam Janam Ka Saath at Shringaar Cinema. There are two more cinema halls in the building.

The condition of 23 of those injured, admitted to CMC Hospital, was stated to be serious.

Ludhiana Range DIG Ishwar Singh said the bomb appeared to have been placed in the first three rows of seats. “At the moment it cannot be said if it was RDX or something else,” he added. The blast site was splattered with blood and body parts and a huge crater marked the spot.

The Union Home Ministry reacted with caution, saying it needed more information before concluding if this was a terror strike. “We are monitoring the situation and waiting for more details,” a spokesperson said.

What is worrying the security and intelligence machinery is not just that the blast closely follows the Ajmer explosion but that if it were a terror attack, it would be the first such strike in Punjab in a long time and the very first for Ludhiana, the industrial city that also houses a large number of migrant workers.

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