NEW DELHI: Eight personnel were injured in an accidental blast at the Nowgam police station in Srinagar late Friday night, killing six people and injuring 27 — mostly policemen and forensic team officials, PTI reported.The explosion occurred while police were extracting samples from a large cache of explosives seized recently in the ‘white-collar’ terror module case. The material had been brought from Faridabad, Haryana, and was part of the 360 kg of explosive chemicals recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie, officials said, PTI reported.Six bodies have been recovered from the blast site, and efforts are underway to identify the deceased. The bodies have been shifted to the Police Control Room in Srinagar. At least 24 police personnel and three civilians have been admitted to various hospitals across the city, the officials said.Five of the injured are in critical condition, and officials warned that the toll may rise.The massive explosion shattered the quiet of the night and caused significant damage to the police station building. Ambulances and police vehicles rushed to the scene, with sirens piercing the air as the injured were taken to nearby hospitals.However TOI could not independently verify the video. Small successive explosions after the initial blast briefly delayed rescue operations by the bomb disposal squad. While some of the seized explosives are stored at the police forensic lab, officials said the bulk of the 360 kg cache was being kept at the Nowgam police station, where the primary case linked to the terror module is registered.The terror module was uncovered after threatening posters targeting police and security forces appeared on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, in mid-October. Srinagar Police registered a case on October 19 and formed a special team to investigate.A detailed CCTV analysis led to the arrest of Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid, all previously booked in stone-pelting cases—who were seen pasting the posters. Their interrogation pointed to Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic-turned-Imam from Shopian, accused of supplying the posters and radicalising the doctors.The probe eventually led police to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where doctors Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Shaheen Sayeed were arrested, and where investigators seized the 360 kg of suspected ammonium nitrate, along with 2,900 kg of IED-making material, including chemicals, detonators, wires, and other bomb-making components, were seized.Earlier this week, a powerful blast ripped through a Hyundai i20 near Delhi’s Red Fort, leaving at least 13 dead and several others injured.Also read: 2900 kg of explosives, 5 kg heavy metal: Major terror module busted in Delhi-NCR; what cops found in Faridabad
