Jammu and Kashmir Police Chief Nalin Prabhat said it was an “accidental explosion” that occurred while a forensic team was examining explosives at Nowgam Police Station in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar.
Prabhat said at a press conference on Saturday that the police station sustained heavy damage and adjacent buildings were also affected.
Prabhat said the dead included a police investigator and a cameraman. According to NDTV News Channel, five of the 32 injured were in critical condition.
Prabhat said the explosives, chemicals and other materials tested were part of a huge cache recovered from Faridabad in the border area of the Indian capital on November 9 and 10.
The explosives were transferred to Nowgam police station and a first chargesheet was registered in the case as per laid down investigation procedure.
Prabhat said the process of forensic and chemical testing of the “huge amount of recovered material” by the forensic team was continuing for two days to collect samples to be sent to the forensic laboratory.
Police sources said explosives and chemicals were handled with extreme caution due to their unstable and sensitive nature. “However, an explosion occurred in the process. There is no need for any other speculation as to the cause of this incident.”
The police station explosion came days after a car exploded at a busy intersection near India’s iconic Red Fort in New Delhi on November 10, killing at least 10 people. The government labeled this a terrorist attack. The connection between the explosion and the recovery of explosives is being investigated.
MNA/