At least nine people were killed and 29 injured when a pile of confiscated explosives blew up at a police station in the Indian portion of Kashmir late on Friday, police sources said, days after a car blast in New Delhi killed eight people, reports Reuters.
Most of the dead were policemen, including forensic officials who were examining the explosives, said the sources, who did not wish to be named. Some of the injured are in critical condition, they said.
“The identification of the bodies is underway, as some have been completely burnt,” one of the sources said.
“The intensity of the blast was such that some body parts were recovered from nearby houses, around 100-200 meters away from the police station.”
The police chief of India’s federally administered Jammu and Kashmir region is expected to address a press conference on the incident shortly.
Earlier, a local police official told Reuters an explosion had ripped through Nowgam police station. The official said fire had engulfed the compound and fire tenders had been rushed to the spot.
The blast comes four days after a deadly car explosion in Indian capital New Delhi killed at least eight people in what the government has called a terror incident.
Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have for decades fought periodic wars over the disputed region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full and rule only in part.
