SRINAGAR, Aug 11: A huge fire broke out in a major Indian army ammunition depot in occupied Kashmir on Saturday, killing two people and forcing an evacuation of the surrounding area, police said.

Shells and grenades exploded in the air as panic-stricken villagers rushed to leave their homes in the Khandroo village, where the high-security installation was located, and the surrounding areas, witnesses said. Police evacuated an area of nine kilometres after the fire erupted.

Two militant groups fighting New Delhi’s rule in Kashmir separately claimed responsibility for starting the fire, but the authorities said it appeared to have been an accident.

Huge plumes of smoke from the burning depot streaked the sky. The fire “broke out inside the army’s central ammunition depot,” a police spokesman said in occupied Srinagar.

An army statement said a civilian and a soldier were killed in the fire and subsequent blasts at Khandroo, 70kms south of Srinagar.

“The known casualty figures at the moment are two dead and 20 wounded,” the statement said.

Police said more than 30 people were hurt, mostly firefighters, and that they had ordered people to evacuate nearby areas, fearing the blaze could spread.

The army said information provided by one of the injured soldiers suggested the fire might have been caused by highly combustible white phosphorous ammunition kept in one of the sheds.—AFP