At least nine people were killed in an explosion in India on Friday. More than 32 others were injured. International news agencies report this based on local police. The incident took place at a police station in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a region over which India, Pakistan and China say they have partial control.
Most of the dead and injured are police officers and forensic workers. They examined the explosives that detonated. According to the regional police, it was an accident. “Any other speculation about the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” said a police chief.
The explosion comes just days after an alleged suicide bombing in India. In the capital New Delhi, a car exploded on Monday opposite the historic Red Fort, a tourist site. Thirteen people were killed and dozens of others were injured. The Indian government considers it a “terror incident”. Police investigation shows that the suspected driver of the car was a doctor from the Kashmir region.
Media suggest the doctor, Umar Mohammad, is linked to a terror cell that was busted earlier this week in Faridabad, south of Delhi. Seven people were arrested, including two doctors from Kashmir. During a raid on the home of one of the doctors, police found about 2,900 kilos of explosives, chemicals, detonators and guns. That material was probably used to commit various attacks, writes the Hindustan Times.
Some of the seized material was kept at a police station in the city of Srinagar in the Kashmir region. When a forensic team took samples, the whole thing exploded.
India and Pakistan
The recent explosion in Kashmir fuels the feverish atmosphere in the area, where tensions between India, China and Pakistan regularly lead to violence. For example, in April 26 mostly Indian tourists were murdered in Kashmir after they were unable to quote a Koranic verse. After that attack, India openly accused Pakistan of supporting terrorists who carried out the attack. For a few days in May, this led to the fiercest fighting between the neighboring countries in years.
India currently accuses Pakistan of no involvement in the New Delhi attack and the Kashmir explosion. Indian officials did state that the attack in the Indian capital, which they labeled as “terror”, was committed by “anti-national forces”.
Twelve people were killed in a suicide bombing in Pakistan’s capital Islambad on Tuesday. Although the attack has now been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif first accused India of being behind the incident.
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