Blast at police station in Kashmir kills nine, injures 27

AT least nine people were killed and 27 injured when a pile of confiscated explosives blew up at a police station in Kashmir, the region's police chief said on Saturday, days after a car blast in New Delhi killed eight people.

The dead included policemen, government officials and forensic staff who were examining the explosives at the time, Nalin Prabhat, director general of police for the federally administered region of Jammu and Kashmir, told a news conference.

He said the cause of the blast late on Friday and the extent of the damage were being investigated.

Indicating there was no militant involvement in the incident, Prabhat said forensic and chemical examinations of previously recovered explosive materials were underway when "an accidental explosion" occurred on Friday night.

"Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary," he said.

The identification of the bodies was underway, as some have been completely burnt, a police source said.

"The intensity of the blast was such that some body parts were recovered from nearby houses, around 100-200 metres away from the police station," the source said.