Srinagar blast leaves nine dead
The explosives that were transported from Faridabad to Nowgam two days ago, accidentally went off inside the secured area of Nowgam police station late Friday night, leading to the death of nine people and leaving 32 others injured in Srinagar. The blast occurred around 11.20pm on Friday when a specialised team was extracting samples from a large and unstable cache of explosives confiscated in connection with an ongoing White Collar terror module investigation.
The explosion, heard several kilometres away, ripped through the rented police station building, causing destruction in a thickly populated residential area. Several vehicles parked in the area also bore the brunt of the blaze triggered by the explosives.
Three personnel from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team, two crime photographers, two Revenue officials (part of the Magistrate’s team), one official from the State Investigation Agency, and one tailor associated with the team were killed in the explosion, according to Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Nalin Prabhat.
He said 27 police personnel, two revenue officials, and three civilians from adjacent areas were injured in the incident and were immediately evacuated to local hospitals for treatment.
DGP also dismissed speculation of a terror attack, stressing that the incident was an unfortunate accident. He made it clear that the blast occurred while FSL teams were conducting the prescribed procedure of taking samples from a huge haul of seized explosives for forensic and chemical examination.
“Due to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, the sampling process, the handling was being done with extreme caution, with utmost caution by the FSL team,” Prabhat said.
“However, unfortunately, during this course, last night around 11.20 pm, an accidental explosion took place,” he said. The cause of this unfortunate incident is being inquired into. The sampling process, necessary due to the “voluminous” nature of the recovery, had been ongoing for two days, he added.
The massive blast severely damaged the police station building and affected adjacent structures. Small successive explosions initially hampered rescue operations.
