At least 9 killed and 32 injured in an explosion at an Indian-controlled Kashmir police station

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A cache of confiscated explosives detonated inside a police station in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least nine people and injuring 32 others, police said on Saturday.

The blast occurred in the Nowgam area of Srinagar, the region’s main city, late Friday when a team of forensic experts and police were examining the explosive material, said Nalin Prabhat, the region’s police director-general. He ruled out any foul play, saying it was an accident.

The dead included six police and forensic officials, two civil administrators and one civilian, authorities said. Some of the injured were in critical condition.

The huge blast ripped through the police station, setting it and multiple vehicles on fire. According to the news agency Press Trust of India, small successive explosions prevented immediate rescue operations.

The police station blast came days after Monday’s deadly car explosion in New Delhi, which killed at least eight people near the city’s historic Red Fort. Indian officials called it a “heinous terror incident” carried out by “anti-national forces.” The car blast happened hours after police in Kashmir said they had dismantled a suspected militant cell operating from the disputed region, arresting at least seven people, including two doctors from Indian cities, and seizing a large quantity of bomb-making material in the city of Faridabad, near New Delhi.

Indian security agencies have since carried out a series of raids in Kashmir as part of their investigation into the car blast, questioning hundreds while detaining scores others.

Indian police said Saturday they used DNA to identify the car's driver and that he was a Kashmiri doctor. Government forces blew up his family home in the southern district of Pulwama on Thursday night, officials said.

In the past, troops have demolished homes of suspects they accuse of being tied to militants fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir as a punishment.

Police had brought the explosive material seized in Faridabad to Kashmir as part of their investigation and were “kept securely in an open area” at the police station, where the investigation that led to the suspected militant cell began last month, according to Prabhat, the top officer.

Prabhat said a team of experts was taking samples for forensic investigation when the blast occurred, calling it an “accidental explosion.”

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

The blast could be heard from miles away in Srinagar, locals said. Some of the victims' body parts were recovered from nearby houses, over 100 meters (328 feet) away from the police station. Multiple houses also suffered damage.

“The explosion produced a deafening roar that rattled houses and flung open windows closed tight,” Bashir Ahmed, a resident, told The Associated Press.

Nearly a dozen relatives of Mohammad Shafi Parray, killed in the blast, assembled at his home in Nowgam and marched in protest to the police station, chanting: “We want justice.”

One of Parry's relatives, who didn't give her name, said the deceased, a tailor by profession, was summoned by the police Friday night. “Why did (the police) take him?" she shouted.

A local police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy, said the tailor had been called to the station to stitch bags for storing explosive material samples.

India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle.

Relatives of Mohammad Shafi Parray, a Kashmiri civilian who was killed when a cache of confiscated explosives detonated inside a police station, mourn as they wait for his body outside his residence in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

A veiled Kashmiri woman is stopped by an Indian police officer before being allowed to pass a temporary checkpoint near the site of an explosion inside a police station in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Relatives of Mohammad Shafi Parray, a Kashmiri civilian who was killed when a cache of confiscated explosives detonated inside a police station, mourn as they wait for his body outside his residence in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Indian police officers patrol near the site of an explosion inside a police station in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yasin Dar)

Ambulances leave the site of an explosion inside a police station in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yasin Dar)

Indian security forces stand near the site of an explosion inside a police station in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yasin Dar)

A police officer, standing center and wearing black, talks to relatives of injured colleagues near the site of an explosion inside a police station in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Yasin Dar)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A combined missile and drone attack on the Kyiv region killed at least four people and wounded at least 15 overnight into Saturday, according to the head of the regional administration for the Ukrainian capital.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition, of whom two were undergoing surgery, Mykola Kalashnyk reported on Saturday. The attack hit four districts, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions, enterprises and critical infrastructure, Kalashnyk added in a social media post.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the main target for the overnight strikes was "the energy infrastructure of the Kyiv region.” He said Russia launched around 430 drones of various types during the night, as well as 68 missiles.

The strikes came days after the U.S. postponed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine scheduled for this week, citing the war in the Middle East.

As U.S. and Israeli missiles and bombs rain on Iran, Russia has responded with words of indignation but no action to support its ally. Moscow’s failure to help another ally, after the 2024 ouster of former Syrian ruler Bashar Assad and January’s U.S. arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, highlighted the limits of its influence — but the Kremlin expects to reap benefits from the Iran war.

Russia is already profiting from a surge in global energy prices, and could hope that the Mideast war will detract attention from Ukraine and deplete Western arsenals.

Zelenskyy on Saturday called on Kyiv's Western partners to pay “one hundred percent attention” to the need to boost the production of air defense missiles.

“Russia will try to exploit the war in the Middle East to cause even greater destruction here in Europe, in Ukraine," he said in a post on social media.

"We must be fully aware of the real level of the threat and prepare accordingly, namely: in Europe, we need to develop the production of air defense missiles — especially those capable of countering ballistic threats — as well as all other systems necessary to truly protect lives,” he said.

Kyiv is also awaiting White House approval for a major drone production agreement proposed by Ukraine last year, Zelenskyy said Thursday, as countries scramble to modernize their air defenses after the Iran war exposed shortcomings.

Also on Thursday, Zelenskyy criticized the 30-day U.S. waiver on Russian oil sanctions amid the war in the Middle East, saying it is “not the right decision” and won’t help bring a stop to Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

“This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war,” Zelenskyy said. “This certainly does not help peace.”

Overnight into Saturday, Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery and port in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, local Russian officials reported.

Krasnodar authorities said three people were hurt in a strike on Port Kavkaz, a port opposite Crimea used to ship liquefied natural gas and grains. A service vessel and pier infrastructure were damaged, they added in a post on Telegram.

Falling drone debris also sparked a fire at the region’s Afipsky oil refinery, authorities said in a separate Telegram post. They said no one was hurt, but did not immediately comment on damage.

Earlier this week, Russian and Ukrainian officials both claimed front-line progress, with Ukraine saying it pushed Moscow’s forces back across places on the front line and the Kremlin insisting Russia’s invasion of its neighbor is making progress.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a joint presser with France's President Emmanuel Macron, not pictured, following a bilateral meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris, Friday March 13, 2026. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP)