Nine people have been killed and 32 injured after a stockpile of confiscated explosives accidentally blew up at a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.
It comes just days after a car blast killed several people in Delhi, in what the government has called a “terror incident”.
The explosion happened on Friday evening at Nowgam police station, and the explosives were seized from Faridabad in the northern state of Haryana earlier in the week.
The region’s director general of police, Nalin Prabhat, said the explosives were being sent for forensic examination – but due to a “very unfortunate” mishap during handling they detonated at around 23:20 local time (17:50 GMT).
Police said in a statement that it was an accidental detonation, not a terrorist attack. “Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” the police chief told journalists.
The police station suffered severe damage in the explosion and adjacent buildings were also affected, he said.
Multiple vehicles were “engulfed in flames and reduced to charred husks, with debris scattered across the site”, according to a police statement.
“The intensity of the blast was such that some body parts were recovered from nearby houses, around 100-200 metres away from the police station,” a source told Reuters news agency.
Most of the victims were police officers, along with forensic personnel, two crime scene photographers, and a tailor who was with the team.
Manoj Sinha, the region’s Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Indian government, expressed his condolences and said he had ordered an investigation.
“I have ordered a probe to ascertain the cause of the accidental explosion. Deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives due to extremely tragic accidental blast at Nowgam police station in Srinagar. My condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for speedy recovery of the injured,” he wrote on social media.
