In Indian-controlled Kashmir, a cache of seized explosives exploded in a police station killing at least 9 people and injuring 32 others, police alleged on 15th November.
The explosion took place in the Nowgam district of Srinagar, the capital city of the region, late Friday when a squad of forensic investigators and police were studying the explosive content, said Nalin Prabhat, who is the police director-general of this region. He eliminated foul play, claiming the same was an accident.
The majority of the killed were the police and forensics. The injured were in critical condition, according to police.
The massive explosion tore up the police station and burnt it down, together with several vehicles. Press Trust of India gave the news that small consecutive explosions could not allow any immediate rescue actions.
The police station explosion was days after the fatal car blast on Monday in the capital city of New Delhi, which killed at least eight people near Delhi historical place called the historic Red Fort.
Indian government officials described it as a heinous terror act that was perpetrated by anti-national elements. The car explosion occurred several hours after the police in Kashmir said that they had deactivated a suspected militant cell based in the disputed region, arrested at least seven individuals, including two doctors based in Indian cities, and recovered a huge amount of bomb-making substance in the city of Faridabad, located near New Delhi.
The Indian security agencies have been conducting raids in Kashmir since then as they investigate the car blast and question hundreds, including detaining scores of people.
On Saturday, Indian police said that they identified the driver of the car by DNA and that he was a Kashmiri doctor. On Thursday night, the government forces used explosions to bring down his family’s house in the southern part of Pulwama, according to the officials.
The troop has previously destroyed houses of suspects suspected to be connected with the militants who object to the Indian rule in Kashmir as a form of punishment.
The explosive material they had retrieved in Faridabad was taken to Kashmir by the police during their investigation and was stored safely in an open space in the police station, where the investigation, which resulted in the alleged militant cell, was initiated last month, as Prabhat, the senior officer, put it.
When the explosion happened, Prabhat claimed that the forensic investigation of samples being taken by a group of professionals was underway, and it was an accidental blast.
India and Pakistan have managed to rule an area of Kashmir which has been divided into two parts, yet they both govern the whole region.
Since 1989, militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been rebelling against the rule of New Delhi. India is insisting that the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan rejects the allegation, and most of the Kashmiris believe that it is a good freedom campaign.
