Nine people have been killed and 32 injured after a cache of seized explosives accidentally detonated at a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.
It comes just days later Several people have been killed in a car explosion in Delhiin what the government has called a “terror incident.”
The explosion took place at the Nowgam police station on Friday evening and the explosives were seized earlier this week in Faridabad in the northern state of Haryana.
The region’s police director general, Nalin Prabhat, said the explosives were sent for forensic examination, but due to a “very unfortunate” accident during handling they detonated at around 11:20 pm local time (17:50 GMT).
Police said in a statement that it was an accidental explosion, and not a terrorist attack. “Any other speculation about the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” the police chief told reporters.
The police station suffered serious damage from the explosion and adjacent buildings were also affected, he said.
Several vehicles were “engulfed in flames and reduced to charred husks, with debris strewn across the site,” a police statement said.
“The intensity of the blast was such that some body parts were recovered from nearby houses, about 100 to 200 meters 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 Indian government-appointed lieutenant governor of the region, offered his condolences and said he had ordered an investigation.
“I have ordered an inquiry to determine the cause of the accidental explosion. Deeply anguished by the loss of precious lives due to the extremely tragic accidental explosion at Nowgam Police Station in Srinagar. My condolences to the bereaved families. I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” he wrote on social media.
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