Wagah Border attack: BSF on high alert, no retreat ceremony for three days

New Delhi: The Border Security Force or BSF is on high alert along the Indo-Pak border in Punjab after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd across Amritsar's Wagah sector in Pakistan killing at least 55 people.

BSF chief DK Pathak said there will be no beating retreat ceremony at the Wagah border for three days from Monday, at the request of Pakistan.

Read: 55 killed, 200 injured in suicide bomber attack at Wagah border

Just before sunset every day, India's BSF and the Pakistan Rangers across the border lower flags to close the border post in a ceremony that attracts huge crowds on both sides. The suicide bomber struck minutes after the flag-lowering ceremony. At least 55 people, including children, women and security personnel, were killed and about 200 others have been injured.

BSF jawan's take positions at Swaran Jayanti Dwar at Attari international border after bomb blast at Wagah (Pakistan) (Photo: PTI)

Mr Pathak, who spoke to his officers on Sunday evening to assess the situation, said the BSF had received intelligence inputs about a fortnight ago that terror groups could try to carry out a possible strike during the beating retreat ceremony.

Read: Wagah attack in Pakistan a ‘dastardly act of terrorism’, says PM Narendra Modi

"We were already alert in this area as we have received some inputs some time back that this area could be targeted. After the blast, we have alerted our formations along this frontier," Mr Pathak said.

Read: 3 militant factions claim Pakistan suicide attack at Wagah Border

He said his formations had told him that the blast occurred about 500 metres from the Wagah border retreat ceremony area on Sunday evening.

A woman mourns for her relative next to the bodies of bomb blast victims at a local hospital in Lahore, Pakistan (Photo: AP)

"The Pakistani Rangers initially told us that there was a cylinder blast in a tea stall but now it has emerged to be a Fidayeen attack. We are not very sure about the exact reasons," he had said soon after the blast.

The BSF chief said his officers in Punjab had already undertaken "coordination" meetings with all intelligence, security and state government authorities in the light of the inputs they had received.

Read: High alert issued along Indo-Pak border after Wagah blast

The forces' Punjab Frontier Inspector General Ashok Kumar said the "blast was reported around 1810 hours and that all Indian locations were safe."

The BSF has asked its border posts and field commanders to mount additional vigil.