Nine Dead, 27 Injured in Blast at Police Station in Indian Kashmir

Nine Killed, 27 Injured in Explosion at Police Station in Indian Kashmir

At least nine people were killed and 27 others injured when a stockpile of seized explosives detonated inside a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, the region’s police chief said on Saturday. The incident comes just days after a car blast in New Delhi killed eight people.

Nalin Prabhat, Director General of Police for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, told reporters that the dead included police personnel, government officials, and forensic experts who had been examining the confiscated explosives at the time.

He said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the late-night blast and assess the full extent of the damage.

Hinting at a possible security angle, Prabhat said the explosives had been undergoing forensic and chemical analysis when “an accidental explosion” occurred on Friday night.
“It is unnecessary to speculate further about the cause of this incident,” he added.

A police source said identification of the bodies is ongoing, as several were badly charred.
“The blast was so powerful that body parts were recovered from houses nearly 100–200 metres away from the station,” the source said.

Earlier, a local police officer told Reuters that an explosion had occurred at the Nowgam police station, sparking a fire at the premises. Fire tenders were dispatched immediately.

The incident happened four days after a deadly car explosion in India’s capital, which killed at least eight people and was described by the government as a terrorist attack.

India and Pakistan—both nuclear-armed neighbours—have fought several wars over the disputed Kashmir region, which both claim in full but govern only in part.