KOTLI: A powerful explosion at a scrap depot on Tatta Pani bypass road in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) left three people dead including children and six others wounded on Saturday.
Police said the blast ripped through the warehouse where collected scrap from surrounding mountainous areas is routinely brought for sorting and sale. Rescue teams and security personnel rushed to the spot, shifting the injured and the bodies to a nearby medical facility, where an emergency was declared due to the critical condition of several victims. Officials fear the casualty count may increase.
Initial findings suggest that waste collectors unknowingly transported an explosive device hidden within the collected scrap. Eyewitnesses reported that the blast occurred moments after the material was unloaded. The deceased, hailing from different localities, are being sent back to their native towns for burial.
Meanwhile, the Kotli incident comes only days after a suicide bombing near the Judicial Complex, which claimed at least 12 lives and injured many more. Investigators have identified the bomber as an Afghan national, with a facilitator traced to Bajaur. Multiple suspects have since been picked up from parts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad as authorities probe the network behind the attack.
Police have begun a detailed investigation into the Kotli explosion to determine the exact source and nature of the explosive material found in the scrap.
