Srinagar/New Delhi- Preliminary investigations into the accidental explosion that ripped through the Nowgam police station late Friday night, killing nine people, suggest that the use of excessive lighting by the forensic team may have triggered the massive blast, officials said Sunday.

The explosion, which authorities maintain was an accident and not a terror attack, occurred around 11:20 pm while a team was extracting samples from the final boxes of seized explosive material transported from Al-Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana.

The area has been visited by teams from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory and experts from the elite National Security Guards for collecting samples.

The officials believe the last few boxes contained a liquid substance - likely a mixture of Acetophenone, Hydrogen Peroxide, and Sulphuric Acid - and in order to examine the liquid substance closely, the lighting arrangement was scaled up, leading to the massive explosion.

While Acetophenone itself is a common industrial chemical, it is a crucial precursor for creating Acetone Peroxide, a highly dangerous and sensitive improvised explosive.

MENAFN16112025000215011059ID1110351046