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Nine killed in accidental explosion at Indian Kashmir police station / Photo: Tauseef MUSTAFA - AFP
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Nine killed in accidental explosion at Indian Kashmir police station
Nine people were killed and 31 injured when confiscated explosives accidentally blew up at a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said Saturday, just days after a car blast in Delhi killed a dozen people.
The incident happened in Nowgam and the explosives at the police station were recovered from Faridabad in the northern state of Haryana earlier this week, just hours before the powerful blast in Delhi that killed 12 people.
Samples from the recovered material were being sent for further forensic examination since Thursday, the region's director general of police Nalin Prabhat said, and the procedure was being handled with "utmost caution" due to its "unstable and sensitive nature".
"However, unfortunately during this course (on Friday) around 11:20 pm, an accidental explosion has taken place. Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary," he told reporters.
The victims included police personnel, forensic team members and two crime photographers and other members from the local administration.
"The building of the police station has been severely damaged and the adjacent buildings have been affected," he added.
Local media reported that the militant organisation People's Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), said to be close to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group, had taken responsibility for the explosion, but the region's police dismissed the claims.
Attacks blamed on JeM include the 2001 assault on India's parliament, and the 2019 Pulwama suicide bombing, which killed 40 security personnel.
"The claim of PAFF or any other Pakistani terrorist group is patently false, baseless and mischievous!" the Jammu and Kashmir police said in a post on X.
The explosion comes just days after powerful blast on Monday killed at least 12 people and wounded 30 others in the Indian capital New Delhi.
It was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.
India's government on Wednesday vowed to bring the "perpetrators, their collaborators, and their sponsors" of the deadly car blast in the heart of the capital to justice and called it an act of terrorism.
N.Fournier--SMC
