9 killed in blast at Nowgam police station in J-K as team examines explosives linked to Red Fort module

While the police are yet to issue an official statement on the scale and cause of the explosion, sources said that a team of the State Investigation Agency (SIA) had arrived at the Nowgam police station when the seized material exploded. The SIA had taken over the investigation of the case a day ago.

Police sources said that an inspector of the investigation agency, a revenue official, and some members of a forensic team were among those killed in the massive blast that could be heard 30 km away. Following the explosion, the police station and several vehicles in the vicinity went up in flames.

The Nowgam police station is at the centre of the investigation that led to the unravelling of the Jaish-e-Mohammad’s interstate terror module last week. Three doctors of the close-knit module were arrested from Faridabad in Haryana and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, while a fourth, Umar Nabi, got away. He was allegedly responsible for the Red Fort blast.

The police station was first involved in October, when some posters related to the Jaish-e-Mohammad appeared in the area. The probe into a seemingly local issue at first would lead police hundreds of kilometres away from the Valley, exposing the module.

As part of the raids on the accused doctors, the police had recovered more than 350 kg of ammonium nitrate. This was part of roughly 2,900 kg of suspected explosive material, which also included potash, phosphorus, reagents, inflammable material, electronic circuits, batteries, wires, remote controls, timers and metal sheets. The police have not said how much of this had been moved to Nowgam.

The police have closed the road leading to Nowgam police station and barred civilian movement.