Nine people have been killed and 32 injured after a stockpile of confiscated explosives by chance blew up at a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.
It comes just days after a car blast killed several people in Delhi, in what the authorities has called a “terror incident”.
The explosion occurred on Friday night at Nowgam police station, and the explosives were seized from Faridabad in the northern state of Haryana earlier in the week.
The area’s director normal of police, Nalin Prabhat, said the explosives were being despatched for forensic examination – but due to a “very unfortunate” mishap during handling they detonated at around 23:20 native time (17:50 GMT).
Police said in a assertion that it was an unintended detonation, not a terrorist attack. “Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” the police chief instructed journalists.
The police station suffered extreme harm in the explosion and adjoining buildings were also affected, he said.
Multiple autos were “engulfed in flames and reduced to charred husks, with debris scattered across the site”, according to a police assertion.
“The intensity of the blast was such that some body parts were recovered from nearby houses, around 100-200 metres away from the police station,” a source instructed Reuters information company.
Most of the victims were police officers, along with forensic personnel, two crime scene photographers, and a tailor who was with the crew.
Manoj Sinha, the area’s Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Indian authorities, expressed his condolences and said he had ordered an investigation.
“I have ordered a probe to ascertain the cause of the accidental explosion. Deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives due to extremely tragic accidental blast at Nowgam police station in Srinagar. My condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for speedy recovery of the injured,” he wrote on social media.
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