Arms depot fire injures 2, kills 35
A fire at the Indian army’s largest arms depot in Kashmir killed two military firefighters and injured at least 35 other people as shells exploded and black smoke blanketed the Himalayan region, officials said today.
About 27,000 people were evacuated from villages within a three-mile radius of the depot near Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, officials said.
A Defense Ministry official ruled out sabotage or an attack by Kashmiri militants, but the Press Trust of India news agency reported that Jamiat-ul-Mujahedin, a local militant group, had claimed responsibility, saying two rockets were fired into the depot.
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