How Srinagar police station explosion is linked to Delhi Red Fort blast? Officials say seized explosives were triggered when…

Srinagar blast: A powerful explosion ripped through a police station on the outskirts of Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar city on late Friday night, killing 9 people, including six police personnel, and four others. According to officials, the blast was triggered due to the “accidental detonation” of a recently confiscated cache of ammonium nitrate-based explosives.

How Srinagar explosion is linked to Delhi Red Fort blast?

Officials said the blast at Nowgam police station was triggered when police and other officials were collecting samples from the explosive material, which was recently seized from the Al-Falah university in Faridabad as part of the investigation into the ‘white collar’ terror module case involving Kashmir-based doctors.

According to news agency PTI, the blast took place when the ammonium nitrate, part of the 360 kilograms of explosives recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie, was being sampled as part of the ongoing investigation in the terror module case.

Notably, the ammonium nitrate is also believed to have been used in the Delhi Red Fort blast which killed 13 people earlier this week.

What caused the ‘accidental’ blast?

Meanwhile, in a press briefing on Saturday, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), said the cause of the “massive” unfortunate accidental explosion at the Nowgam police station in Srinagar city is being investigated, and any other speculation into the cause of the blast was unnecessary.

Addressing the briefing MHA Joint Secretary Prashant Lokhande said a huge cache of explosive substances and chemicals was recovered during probe into a terror module and kept securely in an open area in the premises of Nowgam police station, located on the outskirts of Srinagar, and the seized explosives were forwarded to forensic and chemical examination, as part of the standard and prescribed procedure.

Lokhande said the procedure was being continuously carried out for the last two days because of the voluminous nature of the recovery, and being handled very carefully under expert supervision due to its “unstable and sensitive” nature.

“However, during the process, an accidental explosion took place at about 11.20 pm on the night of November 14. In this unfortunate accidental incident, nine people have lost their lives where as 27 police personnel, two revenue officials and three civilians have received injuries,” the joint secretary said.

The police station was severely damaged in the blast, while nearby buildings were also affected, he said, adding that the cause of the “accident” is under investigation, however, “any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary.”

Who were the victims?

According to officials, nine people were killed in the blast, while 32 others, including 27 police personnel, two revenue officials and three civilians, suffered injuries of various levels.

Among the deceased were six policemen — State Investigation Agency Inspector Israr Ahmad Shah, Selection Grade Constables Javaid Mansoor Rather and Arshid Ahmad Shah (both Crime Branch photographers), Selection Grade Constable Aijaz Afzal Mir and Constables Mohammad Amin Mir and Showkat Ahmad Bhat (all three working with the Forensic Science Laboratory).

Naib Tehsildar Muzaffar Ahmed Khan, Chowkidar of the area Suhail Ahmad Rather, and Mohammad Shafi Parray, a tailor, were the other persons killed in the explosion.

Delhi Red Fort blast

The blast at Nowgam police station comes four days after a white Hyundai i20, reportedly driven by Dr Umar Nabi, a Kashmir-based doctor, exploded at a traffic signal near Delhi’s Red Fort, leaving 13 people dead and injuring several others.

Hours earlier, authorities had busted busted a inter-state “white-collar” terror module with links to terrorist outfits Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and spanned across Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. They seized 2,900 kilograms of explosive substances and arrested eight people, including three doctors linked to Al Falah University.