Accidental blast? At least 7 killed, dozens injured in explosion at J&K's Nowgam police station

Officials warned that the death toll may rise, as at least five of the injured are in critical condition.

According to police sources, a large cache of confiscated explosives stored inside the police station went off at around 11:20 pm while a forensic team and police personnel were examining the material.

Most of the victims were policemen and forensic experts, along with two officials from the Srinagar administration, including a naib tehsildar.

The injured were immediately shifted to the Indian Army’s 92 Base Hospital and the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).

Senior officers rushed to the site, and the entire Nowgam area has been sealed as investigators assess the extent of the blast.

Police station that cracked terror poster case hit by tragedy

The Nowgam police station had recently been at the centre of a breakthrough case involving posters circulated by the Pakistan-backed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

These posters, put up across the Nowgam area, threatened large-scale attacks on security forces and non-locals.

Investigations into these posters had exposed a radicalised network of highly qualified professionals and medical students, leading to the arrest of several individuals—now infamously referred to as “terror doctors.”

Among the first to be arrested was Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather, who was identified from CCTV footage placing the posters.

Rather, who previously worked at the Government Medical College in Anantnag and later moved to Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was found storing an assault rifle in his college locker.

His arrest on October 27 opened the lid on a much larger, deeply embedded terror ecosystem.

Terror network spanned multiple states

Rather’s interrogation led police to Dr Muzammil Shakeel, associated with Al-Falah Medical College in Faridabad, Haryana.

A joint team of J&K and Haryana Police searched locations linked to Shakeel and recovered nearly 3,000 kilograms of Ammonium Nitrate, a key ingredient used in large-scale explosives.

Shakeel’s arrest resulted in yet another breakthrough—the detention of Dr Shaheen Saeed, also from the same medical college.

Authorities believe the group’s operations extended across several Indian states, connecting radicalised professionals with foreign handlers in Pakistan and beyond.

Link to Delhi Red Fort blast

Just hours after the arrest of Saeed, a powerful explosion tore through a Hyundai i20 car at a red light near Delhi’s historic Red Fort, killing 13 people and injuring over 20 others.

Investigators soon identified another doctor, Umar Nabi, as the driver of the vehicle.

Sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) revealed that Nabi may have panicked after the huge seizure of bomb-making chemicals in Haryana, triggering an attempt to flee or relocate.

Investigators believe the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was improperly assembled—possibly due to the suspects’ panic—preventing it from causing even greater devastation.

'White-Collar' terror ecosystem

The Jammu and Kashmir Police described the findings as evidence of a “white-collar terror ecosystem”—a disturbing trend where educated, skilled professionals and students are being radicalised and recruited by foreign handlers to execute high-impact terror operations.

Authorities continue to investigate whether Friday’s accidental blast was connected to the broader terror module, as they work to trace additional suspects and dismantle the network operating across multiple states.