At least seven people were killed and 27 others injured when a cache of seized explosives blew up inside a police station in Srinagar, the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir.
The explosion occurred late Friday (November 14) at the Nowgam police station in southern Srinagar. Most of the victims were police personnel and forensic experts who were examining the materials when they detonated, according to unnamed sources cited by Indian broadcaster NDTV. Two officials from the Srinagar administration were also among the dead.
With five of the injured in critical condition, the death toll may rise, NDTV reported.
“This was not a terror attack. Police say it was a tragic accident,” NDTV senior executive editor Aditya Raj Kaul wrote on social media. He added that the blast occurred while officers and forensic teams were inspecting the stored explosives.
The incident comes just days after a deadly car explosion in New Delhi on Monday that killed at least 12 people near the historic Red Fort. Authorities have labelled that explosion a “terror” attack.
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Hours before the New Delhi blast, police had arrested several suspects and seized explosives and assault rifles. Officials said the suspects were linked to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a Pakistan-based group fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, and its local affiliate Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.
In connection with the New Delhi incident, authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have detained more than 650 people.
Reports say the Nowgam police station had been investigating JeM posters displayed in the area warning of attacks on security forces and non-locals. Police said the probe exposed a “white-collar terror network” involving radicalised professionals and students connected to handlers in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Investigators also seized nearly 3,000kg of ammonium nitrate—commonly used in bomb-making—believing the armed group was amassing materials for a major attack.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, with both countries claiming the region. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars over Kashmir, and tensions over the contested territory continue to run high.
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Source: AL Jazeera