9 killed in India’s Kashmir police station blast days after deadly car explosion in Delhi
Confiscated explosives blew up, creating a blast so intense that some body parts were recovered from houses more than 100 metres away
A cache of confiscated explosives detonated inside a police station in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least nine people and injuring 32 others, police said on Saturday.
The blast occurred in the Nowgam area of Srinagar, the region’s main city, late on Friday when a team of forensic experts and police were examining the explosive material, said Nalin Prabhat, the region’s police director-general. He ruled out any foul play, saying it was an accident.
The dead included six police and forensic officials, two civil administrators and one civilian, authorities said. Some of the injured were in critical condition.
The huge blast ripped through the police station, setting it and multiple vehicles on fire. According to the news agency Press Trust of India, small successive explosions prevented immediate rescue operations.
The police station blast came days after Monday’s deadly car explosion in New Delhi, which killed at least eight people near the city’s historic Red Fort. Indian officials called it a “heinous terror incident” carried out by “anti-national forces”.