SRINAGAR: A devastating explosion tore through the Nowgam police station on the southern edge of Srinagar late Friday night, killing nine people and injuring at least 29 others, officials said. Among the dead was a Naib Tehsildar who had arrived at the station on official duty, as well as a local tailor. Most of the remaining victims were police personnel and members of a forensic team examining a cache of recently seized explosives, according to GK News.
Authorities believe the blast was triggered by ammonium nitrate stored inside the station’s malkhana, the evidence locker where confiscated materials are kept. The substance had reportedly been brought from Faridabad, Haryana, after police there and in Jammu and Kashmir uncovered what they described as a “white-collar terror module” involving radicalized professionals and students linked to foreign handlers.
The force of the explosion obliterated parts of the building, charring bodies beyond recognition and scattering human remains across nearby homes as far as 200 meters away, according to officials overseeing the recovery effort. The injured were rushed to the Army’s 92 Base Hospital, SKIMS Soura, and a local private facility; several remain in critical condition, prompting fears that the death toll may rise.
Police stressed that the incident was not the result of a militant attack. Rather, they called it a “tragic accident” that occurred while officers and forensic experts were handling and inspecting the explosive stockpile.
The blast follows a tense week in India. On Monday, a car explosion near New Delhi’s Red Fort killed at least 12 people in what authorities labelled a terror strike. Since then, more than 650 people have been detained in Kashmir in connection with that investigation, and officials say they recently recovered nearly three tonnes of ammonium nitrate intended for a major attack.
Nowgam police station had been probing threatening posters attributed to Jaish-e-Muhammad, warning of attacks on security forces and non-locals. Investigators say those leads helped expose a broader network of operatives working quietly within civilian professions.
Kashmir, disputed between India and Pakistan since 1947, remains engulfed in tension, its fragile peace once again shaken by tragedy born of the region’s long, violent shadow.
