The incident led to the deaths of at least nine people, with several others sustaining injuries.
At least nine people have died and several others were injured after a deadly blast occurred near the premises of Nowgam police station in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday night, police said. Soon after the explosion, Inspector General (IG) of the CRPF Pawan Kumar Sharma rushed to the site to oversee relief operations and assess the security measures.
Further, security personnel cordoned off the area around the police station to ensure safety, while officials remain on the spot to implement all precautionary protocols. Director General of Police (DGP) Nalin Prabhat also visited the site and left after assessing the situation. Investigations into the cause of the explosion are currently underway.
Authorities have urged the public to avoid the area and cooperate with security forces as rescue and inquiry operations continue.
A blast occurred near the premises of Nowgam police station in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday night. Security personnel are present at the scene, and sniffer dogs have been deployed to assist with the investigation. The Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar, Akshay Labroo, visited the hospital to meet the victims injured in the blast.
Faridabad ‘link’
According to the PTI news agency, officials stated that the explosion happened while handling the explosive material that had been taken from Faridabad in Haryana. The dismantling of the ‘white-collar’ terror module, security forces had taken a sizable cache of explosives, from which the police were attempting to obtain samples.
The arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie’s rented home contained the seized material, which included 360 kg of explosives. According to officials, the explosives were being sampled as part of the investigation into the terror module.
While most of the explosive material was held at the police station, some was stored at the police forensic lab. There was also a primary case registered for the terror module. The police station’s building had been damaged by the massive blast during the night, and security guards who had been hurt were taken to the hospital.
However, modest successive explosions prevented the bomb disposal crew from immediately rescuing the police personnel, according to the PTI report.
Delhi car blast
Notably, the threads of the November 10 Delhi blast are linked to objectionable posters in the Nowgam area of Srinagar, for which an FIR was registered on October 19, sources have said, noting security forces took strong action to bust an inter-state Jaish-e-Mohammed module linked to the terror plot.
During the investigation of this case, two arrests were made from Shopian and Ganderbal between October 20 and 27 and on November 5, a medical practitioner, Dr Adil, was apprehended from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, sources said. They said two days later, an AK-56 rifle and other ammunition were seized in an Anantnag Hospital and more guns, pistols, and explosives were subsequently recovered from a place in Faridabad.
During interrogation, the accused revealed the names of other persons involved in this module. Subsequently, Dr Muzammil, a doctor from Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad, was arrested, the sources said. Based on these leads, more arrests were made and a large cache of weapons and explosives was seized.
On November 9, a person named Madrasi, a resident of Dhauj, Faridabad, was arrested from his house. The next day, a massive consignment of explosives, weighing 2,563 kilograms, was recovered from the house of Hafeez Mohammad Ishtiaq, a resident of Mewat and an Imam at Al Falah Mosque in Faridabad’s Dhera Colony. In subsequent raids, 358 kilograms of additional explosive material, detonators, and timers were seized, sources said, adding that approximately 3,000 kilograms of explosives and bomb-making equipment stored by this module were seized.
During these operations, Umar, also part of the module and working as a medical practitioner at Al Falah Medical College, changed his location as he was under constant pressure from the security forces, the sources said.
According to CCTV footage, the car in which the Red Fort explosion occurred was being driven by Umar, a member of this module. The explosion was caused by the same type of material stockpiled in Faridabad, from where nearly 3,000 kilograms of explosives were seized, the sources said.
They said whether the blast was pre-planned or accidental will be determined in further investigation. Security agencies and the intelligence network successfully “dismantled this Faridabad module”, recovered a large quantity of explosive material and prevented a major conspiracy aimed at causing large-scale damage in the country.
The sources said Umar fled as he panicked by the successful crackdown of security forces and his anxiety and desperation likely led to the Red Fort explosion. Whether it was deliberate or accidental will emerge in investigations, but it is certain that the blast was an integral part of the same chain of events during which a major terrorist module was exposed and a huge quantity of explosives seized, they said.
As soon as news of the explosion came on Tuesday, Delhi Police and other security agencies rushed to the site. Home Minister Amit Shah immediately directed NSG, NIA, and forensic teams to reach the location. The injured were promptly taken to the nearest hospital and the ownership of the vehicle used in the blast was confirmed.
Essential DNA, explosive, and other samples have been collected from the site and sent for forensic examination. The investigation has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency.
(with inputs from ANI)
