Hundreds evacuated after massive fire at Indian arms depot

A fire broke out at the Indian army’s largest arms depot in Kashmir today, wounding at least 30 people, officials said, as shells exploded into the air and a massive plume of black smoke blanketed the Himalayan region.

Thousands of people from villages within a three mile radius were evacuated from the area around the Khandroo depot, some 43 miles south of Srinagar, the main city in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state, said local police chief Abdul Ghani Mir.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lt. A.K. Mathur said he did not know what caused the fire, but ruled out sabotage or an attack by Kashmiri militants.

However, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, a local militant group, reportedly claimed responsibility for the fire in a message faxed to the Press Trust of India news agency. The statement, signed by group spokesman Jamil Ahmad, said two rockets were fired into the munitions depot, PTI said.

Mathur said at least 25 soldiers were wounded and the casualty toll was expected to rise once the fire was extinguished and rescue workers entered the area. Ghani said another five civilians were hurt.

The Indian military has a massive presence in Kashmir, where militant groups are fighting for independence from Hindu-majority India, or a merger with Muslim Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety.

India has an estimated 700,000 soldiers in Kashmir, fighting nearly a dozen rebel groups since 1989.

In many areas, the region has the feel of an occupied country, with soldiers in full combat gear patrolling streets and frisking civilians.

More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict.