Powerful blast near Himachal Pradesh police station shatters windows

A powerful blast rocked a police station in Nalagarh, Himachal Pradesh's Solan district, on Thursday, with the impact felt several hundred metres away.

A PTI report citing officials said no casualties have been reported so far, and a probe has been launched to identify the cause of the blast.

Panic ran through the residents of Nalagarh following the blast near the police station. According to the PTI report, the impact of the blast that occurred in a lane near the police station was so strong that the windows of nearby buildings were shattered. The local residents said that the loud sound from the blast was heard from up to 400 to 500 metres.

An eyewitness sitting in the vicinity told the news agency that the impact caused even 16 millimetres thick glass to break and everything to shake.

The Himachal Pradesh police swung into action after the blast and promptly barricaded the area for further investigation into the blast.

Officials said that a forensic team has arrived at the scene to collect samples for the investigation into the cause.

An accidental explosion inside the Nowgam Police Station outside Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir left nine personnel dead and 32 others injured and caused extensive damage to the nearby building in November.

The Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP), Nalin Prabhat, stressed immediately after the blast that any speculation about the incident was unnecessary, as preliminary findings indicated an inadvertent blast during a mandated forensic procedure.

The DGP informed at that time that nine individuals who lost their lives included one officer from the State Investigation Agency (SIA), three FSL personnel, two crime-scene photographers, two revenue officials who were assisting the Magistrate's team, and a tailor associated with the operation.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday assured that the Government will provide every possible support to the families of the victims who lost their lives in the Nowgam Police Station explosion.