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.
Police stated that the explosion was an accidental detonation, not a terrorist attack. Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary, the police chief informed journalists.
The police station suffered severe damage in the explosion, impacting adjacent structures as well. Multiple vehicles were engulfed in flames and reduced to charred remains, with debris scattered across the site. The force of the blast was so intense that body parts were recovered from houses over 100-200 meters away from the police station.
Most casualties were police officers, alongside forensic personnel, two crime scene photographers, and a tailor who was with the team at the time of the explosion.
Manoj Sinha, the region's Lieutenant Governor appointed by the Indian government, expressed his condolences and has mandated a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the blast. 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 a speedy recovery of the injured, he posted on social media.
