J&K Police rejects social media chatter around Nowgam blast: ‘Conjectures’

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday dismissed reports on social media surrounding the recent explosion at Nowgam Police Station as “conjectures” and “misleading” as it reiterated that the blast was “accidental”.

An ‘accidental’ explosion at Nowgam Police station on November 14 killed nine persons, including an SIA inspector and a naib tehsildar. Authorities said the explosion occurred when samples from a cache of recovered explosives were being collected.

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“It is reiterated that an accidental explosion occurred on 14 Nov 2025, while the process of sample collection, from the large cache of recovered explosive, for forensic examination, was being done by experts from Forensic Science Laboratory,” the J&K Police said in a post on X, adding that the matter is being probed by a high-level committee formed by the government.

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The probe panel is led by Principal Secretary and includes Home Department, Inspector General of Kashmir zone, Srinagar district magistrate and a senior scientist from Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory, the police said.

Blast at Nowgam Police Station

The accidental explosion tore through the Nowgam Police Station on the evening of November 14 when police and forensic experts were collecting samples from the cache of explosives retrieved few days ago from Faridabad.

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Nine people, including a tailor, died in the explosion, which the police termed as accidental and said that any speculation into the cause was unnecessary. The blast, which was heard through most part of the city and damaged the nearby houses, left 32 people injured.

HT earlier reported that the police station is situated in migrant property inside a residential area in central Kashmir’s Srinagar district. According to officials, nine persons, including revenue, SIA and forensic officials, along with two locals and a tailor, were present near the explosives at the the time of the blast.

They were collecting the samples when the accidental blast took place. The explosives were places in the courtyard.

Investigation so far

As the probe in the case is underway, a police officer privy to details told HT that all the eyewitnesses have died on the spot, especially those who were close to the material. “We are still trying to find out what actually led to this massive explosion,” he said, adding that for explosion you need a detonator.

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“The investigators are trying to find what was the cause of explosion.” He said almost all those who sustained injuries were either inside police station or at a distance. “The injured policemen are still in shock and don’t know how the blast took place.”

At the time of blast around 2,900 Kilograms of IED making material were placed inside the premises of the police station, including ammonium nitrate– a highly flammable reagent.

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“Those who could have told the police what actually happened died on the spot and injured were all either inside or at distance from the blast. Still the teams are trying to find out the cause of this massive blast,” said another officer adding that since the material was huge and in numerous bags there is possibility some module members had concealed a detonator circuit inside the explosive which got triggered when samples were being collected. “Everything is a matter of investigation.”