The explosion at Nowgam police station in Srinagar on Friday night resulted in the deaths of seven individuals and injuries to twenty-seven others, marking one of the deadliest peacetime incidents within police premises in recent years.

According to officials, the blast occurred when a forensics team, working alongside local police, was examining confiscated explosives that had been stored as part of an ongoing counterterrorism investigation.

Among the dead were several police personnel and forensic experts who had been handling the materials. Two officials from the Srinagar district administration, including a naib tehsildar, also lost their lives in the explosion. Sources indicated that the death toll could rise as at least five of the injured remain in a critical condition.

The injured were immediately shifted to the Indian Army’s 92 Base Hospital and the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for treatment. Senior police officials and bomb disposal teams rushed to the scene as the entire Nowgam area was cordoned off to prevent secondary incidents and ensure public safety. Preliminary assessments suggest the blast occurred due to accidental detonation of unstable explosives recovered during recent counterterror operations.

The explosives in question had been seized earlier this month during a crackdown on a Jaish-e-Mohammed-linked terror cell operating across parts of Kashmir.

The Nowgam police station had played a central role in uncovering the network after tracing posters issued by the outfit that appeared in multiple locations across Srinagar and adjoining areas. These posters carried chilling warnings of attacks against security forces and non-locals residing in the Valley.

Investigations into the posters exposed a “white-collar” terror ecosystem involving educated professionals — including doctors and postgraduate students — who were allegedly radicalised and guided by foreign handlers based in Pakistan and elsewhere.

Among the key suspects was Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather, formerly associated with the Government Medical College in Anantnag. Rather had been captured on CCTV footage putting up the Jaish posters shortly before his arrest on 27 October.

During searches following his arrest, police recovered an assault rifle and further evidence linking him to a broader network spanning several northern Indian states. The interrogation of Rather led investigators to Dr Muzammil Shakeel, a faculty member at Al-Falah Medical College in Haryana’s Faridabad. A subsequent raid on properties associated with Shakeel resulted in the discovery of nearly 3,000 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, a material frequently used in improvised explosive devices.

Shakeel’s detention opened up more leads and culminated in the arrest of another doctor, Shaheen Saeed, from the same medical institution earlier this week. Hours after these arrests, a devastating blast tore through a vehicle near Delhi’s Red Fort, killing thirteen people and injuring more than twenty. Forensic linking soon revealed that one of the other radicalised doctors, identified as Umar Nabi, had been driving the Hyundai i20 that exploded.

Investigators from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) believe that the suspects had attempted to move explosive components after police seizures in Jammu and Kashmir disrupted their supply chain. 

The panic and haste in assembling the Delhi device may have caused a premature detonation. Sources indicate that the seizure of sensitive chemicals and the ensuing investigations may have triggered unsafe handling by the suspects, ultimately leading to both the Red Fort car explosion and, indirectly, the fatal Nowgam police station blast.

Authorities are now probing whether the seized explosives that detonated at the police station were inadequately neutralised or stored without adequate safety protocols. Internal reviews within the J&K Police have been initiated to assess procedures for handling and storing confiscated ordnance and explosive material.

The incident underscores the grave risks faced by law enforcement and forensic experts engaged in counterterror operations across Kashmir, where militants have increasingly turned to sophisticated yet unstable explosive devices.

Based On NDTV Report