2 dead, 16 injured in Bihar blast

A police constable and a woman, suspected to be a suicide bomber, were killed and 16 others, including lawyers, injured in a bomb blast at the Ara civil court in Bihar on Friday.

Additional Director General (ADG) of Police (Headquarters) Gupteshwar Pandey told PTI the explosion took place around 11:30 am, when a van carrying undertrials entered the court premises.

The woman, suspected to be carrying the explosive, was aged 35-40 years, the ADG said, adding there was a possibility that she could have been a human bomb.

Pandey ruled out the possibility of the blast being a terrorist attack.

A police constable, Amit Kumar (40), was the other person killed, he said.

Bhojpur District Magistrate Pankaj Kumar Pal and Superintendent of Police Akhtar Hussain reached the court to take stock of the situation.

The administration has sealed the court premises. Ara is around 60 km from Patna. Lawyers and witnesses said the woman was sitting between the van parked near the gate and the court lock-up, which was about 10 feet away.

As the undertrials were being taken from the van to the lock-up one by one, the woman reportedly exploded the bomb. Bihar Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said the blast appeared to be aimed at helping undertrials flee. Two undertrials managed to flee in the confusion following the blast.