9 dead, 32 hurt as explosives seized from terror module go off in J&K police station

Nine persons, including a revenue officer and an inspector-rank police official, were killed and 32 others injured on Friday night in a massive explosion inside Srinagar’s Nowgam police station where explosives recovered from the Delhi blast-linked “white collar” terror module were stored.

The J&K Police and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Saturday termed the explosion as an “accidental detonation”, urging the public and the media to avoid speculation until investigators determined the exact cause.

Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who heads the UT’s Home Department, has ordered an investigation into the incident. The blast occurred around 11.22 pm when a team of the J&K Police’s State Investigation Agency (SIA) and forensic experts arrived at the police station for extracting samples from the large and “unstable” cache of seized explosives, said sources.

The explosion, which was heard several kilometres away, triggered a massive fire, engulfing the rented building that housed the police station and vehicles present on the premises. Several adjoining residential houses were also damaged.

J&K Director General Police Nalin Prabhat and MHA Joint Secretary Prashant Lokhande read out similar statements before the media in Srinagar and New Delhi, respectively, dismissing speculation of a terror attack and stressing that the incident was an “unfortunate accident”.

Prabhat said SIA Inspector Asrar Ahmad, two revenue officials (part of the Magistrate’s team), including Naib Tehsildar Muzaffar Ahmad Khan, three personnel from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team, two crime photographers and a tailor associated with the probe team were killed in the blast. Twenty-seven police personnel, including Nowgam SHO Inspector Masrat Alam, a key officer investigating the terror module, two revenue officials and three civilians from adjacent areas were injured.

Both Prabhat and Lokhande made it clear that the blast occurred while FSL teams were conducting the prescribed procedure of taking samples from the huge haul of seized explosives for forensic and chemical examination.

The huge cache of explosives was brought to the police station from Haryana’s Faridabad in a Tata 407 pickup truck in small bags, a top official said. On the reason behind transporting the explosives to Kashmir, an official said the original case was registered at the Nowgam police station and the explosives were the case property of that police station.

The cache was recovered by the J&K Police from the rented house of arrested accused Dr Muzzamil Ganaie in Faridabad on November 9 and 10. The bulk of the 360 kg of explosives was stored securely in an open area at the Nowgam police station, said an official.

The J&K Police had registered a case in October after Jaish-e-Mohammad posters carrying threats to security personnel appeared at several locations in Bunpora Nowgam. The subsequent investigation uncovered the terror module involving doctors.

After the police station blast, top officials from security forces and administration arrived at the spot to assess the situation. A security official, who was among the first to reach the spot, termed the scene “horrific”. “People around the police station found body parts lying in their residential premises. The scene was horrifying,” the official said.

Deceased FSL official Mohammad Amin’s brother said they faced a tough time identifying the body. “When I couldn’t identify him initially, I waited for a few hours at the Police Control Room, thinking I would get a call that he was alive. Later, I identified him through his teeth,” he said.

Prabhat said the recovered material was “kept securely in an open area at the police station”. He said as part of prescribed procedure, samples of the explosives had to be forwarded for further forensic and chemical examination”, a process that was going on for two days.

“Owing to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, it was being handled with utmost caution… Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” he said, adding the cause for the blast was being inquired into.

Later, the J&K Police also rejected a purported claim made by militant group People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) about the explosion. “The claim by PAFF or any other Pakistani terrorist group is false, baseless and mischievous!” the police said.

The MHA said that premature conclusions could hinder the investigation. “Further information will be shared after the probe progresses,” it said, adding that the government stood in solidarity with the families of those who lost their lives.