Nowgam Blast: 9 dead, 32 hurt in ‘accidental’ explosion in J&K, top cop says ‘speculation unnecessary’ | Latest updates

Nowgam Blast: At least nine people were killed and 32 were injured after some confiscated explosives that were stored at Nowgam police station in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) went off on Friday. Addressing a press conference, J&K Director General of Police (DGP) Nalin Prabhat said the blast was “accidental” and any “other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary.”

According to the initial reports, the blast occurred when some policemen and authorities were extracting samples from a large cache of 360 kg of explosives explosives confiscated in the 'white-collar' terror module case in Haryana.

Nowgam blast case: Latest updates

1. Those dead in the Nowgam blast case include three people from Forensic Science Laboratory, two from Revenue department including a Naib Tehsildar, two police photographers, one member of State Investigation Agency and a tailor.
2. The others injured were collecting samples brought from Haryana when the bomb went off. The material was part of the explosives, including ammonium nitrate, recovered from Faridabad.
3. The material was part of the 360 kg of explosives recovered from the rented residence of arrested accused Dr Muzammil Ganaie. They were kep in the open, Prashant Lokhande, Joint Secretary MHA said.
4. Since there were multiple small blasts, they prevented immediate rescue operations by the bomb disposal squad. Also Read | Police arrest two hybrid terrorists in Kashmir's Sopore region; arms and ammunition recovered — details here
5. The cause of the Nowgam blast case is being investigated. The building of the police station has been very severely damaged.
6. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said any other “speculation about this incident is unnecessary.”

During the press conference, DGP Nalin Prabhat said, “During the investigation, an FIR number 162/2025 of PS Nowgam, a huge quantity of explosive substances, chemicals were also recovered from Faridabad on 9, 10 November. This recovery, like the rest of the recoveries which we have done, was transported and kept securely in the open area of Police Station, Nowgam.”

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“As part of the prescribed procedure, the samples of the recovery had to be forwarded for further forensic and chemical examination. This process was going on for the past two days by the FSL team. Due to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, the sampling process, handling was being done with extreme caution by the FSL team.”

He said, “However, unfortunately, during this course, last night around 11.20 pm, an accidental explosion has taken place. Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary. In this unfortunate incident, nine people have lost their lives and 27 police personnel, two revenue officials and three civilians from the adjacent areas have received injuries.”

(With agency inputs)