J-K: 7 dead, 30 injured in explosion at Nowgam police station during inspection of explosives

A powerful blast late Friday night at the Nowgam Police Station in Jammu and Kashmir claimed six lives and left 27 others injured, most of them police personnel and forensic experts. The explosion occurred around 11:20 p.m. during the extraction and examination of explosive materials seized in an ongoing terror module investigation.

According to officials, teams from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Jammu & Kashmir Police, and the local Tehsildar were inspecting a large cache of explosives when the incident took place. The material, mainly ammonium nitrate-based mixtures, had been recovered from a rented residence in Faridabad, Haryana, belonging to arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie.

Of the 360 kg of explosives recovered, a substantial portion was stored at the Nowgam Police Station as part of case proceedings.

Building Destroyed as Rescue Operations Face Delays

The blast caused extensive damage to the police station building and destroyed several vehicles parked inside the premises. It also triggered a series of smaller explosions, slowing down rescue efforts by bomb disposal squads.

The injured were rushed to multiple hospitals across Srinagar. The six bodies, retrieved early Saturday, have been shifted to the Police Control Room for identification. Among the wounded are 24 police personnel and three civilians.

Security forces have cordoned off the area, and sniffer dogs have been deployed as investigation teams continue to comb through the debris.

Delhi car blast near Red Fort

Notably, the threads of the November 10 Delhi blast are linked to objectionable posters in the Nowgam area of Srinagar, for which an FIR was registered on October 19, sources have said, noting security forces took strong action to bust inter-state Jaish-e-Mohammed module linked to the terror plot.

During the investigation of this case, two arrests were made from Shopian and Ganderbal between October 20 and 27. On November 5, a medical practitioner Dr Adil was apprehended from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, sources said. They said two days later, an AK-56 rifle and other ammunition were seized in Anantnag Hospital and more guns, pistols, and explosives were subsequently recovered from a place in Faridabad.

During interrogation, the accused revealed the names of other persons involved in this module. Subsequently, Dr Muzammil, a doctor from Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad, was arrested, the sources said. On the basis of these leads, more arrests were made and a large cache of weapons and explosives was seized.

On November 9, a person named Madrasi, a resident of Dhauj, Faridabad, was arrested from his house. The next day, a massive consignment of explosives, weighing 2,563 kilograms, was recovered from the house of Hafeez Mohammad Ishtiaq, a resident of Mewat and an Imam at Al Falah Mosque in Faridabad's Dhera Colony. In subsequent raids, 358 kilograms of additional explosive material, detonators, timers, were seized, sources said, adding that approximately 3,000 kilograms of explosives and bomb-making equipment stored by this module was seized.

During these operations, Umar, also part of the module and working as medical practitioner at Al Falah Medical College, changed his location as he was under constant pressure from the security forces, the sources said.

According to CCTV footage, the car in which the Red Fort explosion occurred was being driven by Umar, a member of this module. The explosion was caused by the same type of material stockpiled in Faridabad, from where nearly 3,000 kilograms of explosives were seized, the sources said.

They said whether the blast was pre-planned or accidental will be determined in further investigation. Security agencies and intelligence network successfully "dismantled this Faridabad module", recovered a large quantity of explosive material and prevented a major conspiracy aimed at causing large-scale damage in the country.

The sources said Umar fled as he panicked by the successful crackdown of security forces and his anxiety and desperation likely led to the Red Fort explosion. Whether it was deliberate or accidental will emerge in investigations, but it is certain that the blast was an integral part of the same chain of events during which a major terrorist module was exposed and a huge quantity of explosives seized, they said.

As soon as news of the explosion came on Tuesday, Delhi Police and other security agencies rushed to the site. Home Minister Amit Shah immediately directed NSG, NIA, and forensic teams to reach the location. The injured were promptly taken to the nearest hospital and the ownership of the vehicle used in the blast was confirmed.

Essential DNA, explosive, and other samples have been collected from the site and sent for forensic examination. The investigation was has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency. 

(with inputs from ANI)