A powerful explosion rocked a police center in Kohat on Sunday, causing damage to the building but no casualties, police said. The apparently accidental blast was caused by some grenades stored in a room of the armoury at the Kohat police center in North West Frontier Province, city police chief Akhtar Nawaz told AFP.
The room was locked, he said adding that it belonged to a police officer, who had been out of the city for the past several weeks on a training mission. "We have launched an investigation and are also contacting the police officer to know details of the ordnance he had stored in his room," Nawaz said. "The blast seems to be accidental, it was not a terrorist attack," he said, adding that the room caved in but there were no casualties.
THE HOME DEPARTMENT NWFP ISSUED THE FOLLOWING PRESS NOTE:
"An explosion was occurred in an armour shop of an old building in Police Lines Kohat at 11:30 a. m. on Saturday. "Some boxes of old cartridges and seized hand grenades without pin and striker were placed in the shop." It said: "The smoke started to emit from the shop at 11:30 am. Apparently the electric short-circuit was seen behind explosion. Bullets fired and thereafter hand grenade exploded due to severe heat in the room. The shop was destroyed. "Neither human loss was reported nor any body received injury. It happened accidentally."
It said: "Fire brigade was called but fire extinguished before arrival of fire brigade. No evidence has come forth to support identification of sabotage activity in the case so far.