SRINAGAR: Nine people were killed and 27 others injured after confiscated explosive material detonated inside a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, officials said on Saturday, in one of the region’s deadliest non-militant incidents in recent years.
Jammu and Kashmir Police Chief Nalin Prabhat said the victims included police personnel, government employees and forensic experts who were handling previously seized explosives when the blast occurred late Friday. Investigators are still assessing the extent of structural damage at the Nowgam police station in Srinagar.
Prabhat stressed there was no indication of militant involvement, describing the explosion as accidental. “Forensic and chemical examinations were underway when an unintended blast took place. Any speculation beyond this is unnecessary,” he told reporters.
Rescue teams said identification of the bodies was proving difficult, with several remains severely burnt. A police official noted that the force of the explosion hurled body parts into nearby residential areas up to 200 metres away.
Witnesses reported flames engulfing parts of the police compound before firefighters managed to contain the blaze.
The incident comes just four days after a deadly car explosion in New Delhi killed eight people in what the Indian government has labeled a terrorist attack, heightening national tensions over security preparedness.
India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed, continue to contest the region of Kashmir, where sporadic violence and periodic crises have shaped decades of strained ties.
—WNN Desk
