SRINAGAR: A powerful accidental explosion at a police station on the outskirts of Srinagar has killed nine people and injured 27 others — most of them policemen and forensic specialists — officials said on Friday.A video captured by one of the CCTV cameras in the area shows the moment of the explosion.
The blast occurred while officers were examining a large cache of explosives seized in a recently uncovered ‘white-collar’ terror module, shaking the area and damaging the Nowgam police station building.Also read |Ammonium nitrate explodes? Seized explosives from Faridabad detonate inside J&K police station: 10 things to know
What we know so far
- Nine people were killed and 27 injured after an accidental explosion at Nowgam police station during the extraction of samples from explosives seized in a terror-related case, officials said.
- The blast occurred while investigators were handling explosive material brought from Faridabad in Haryana, linked to the ‘white-collar’ terror module.
- The explosives were part of the 360 kg recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie, officials said.
- Six unidentified bodies were retrieved from the blast site and shifted to the Police Control Room in Srinagar.
- Twenty-nine police personnel and three civilians were hospitalised with injuries as the late-night explosion damaged the police station and triggered emergency sirens.
- Officials said small successive explosions followed the main blast, slowing down rescue efforts by the bomb disposal squad.
- While some of the seized explosive material had been stored at the forensic lab, a major portion remained at the Nowgam police station, where the primary case is registered.
- DGP J&K will address the media today at PCR Kashmir at 10.00am in Srinagar.
- A local said, “My house is the third house from the site. We don’t have any information right now about the civilian casualties. All the houses in the vicinity have been damaged.”
‘Posters threatening police officers’The case originated after posters threatening police and security forces appeared in Bunpora, Nowgam, in mid-October. Police registered a case on 19 October and formed a special team.Frame-by-frame CCTV analysis led to the arrest of Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid, all previously involved in stone-pelting.Their interrogation resulted in the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, accused of supplying posters and radicalising doctors.
The probe later extended to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where doctors Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Shaheen Sayeed were arrested and chemicals including ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulphur were seized.Also read | Delhi car blast: Forces demolish bomber Umar Nabi’s J&K home with explosivesInvestigators say the module was allegedly run by three doctors — Ganaie, Umar Nabi (linked to the Red Fort blast vehicle), and absconding Muzzaffar Rather. The role of Dr Adeel Rather, from whom an AK-56 rifle was recovered, remains under investigation.
