NEW DELHI: India’s anti-terrorism agency spearheaded on Wednesday the third day of investigations into a car blast in the capital, as a hospital official said the death toll had increased to 12.
Police are yet to give exact details of what caused the intense explosion near the historic Red Fort in the crowded Old Delhi quarter of the city, one of India’s most well-known landmarks, and the site of the annual prime minister’s Independence Day speech. The blast was the first such explosion in the heavily guarded city of more than 30 million people since 2011.
“Twelve people have died and more than 30 are injured,” Ritu Saxena, the chief medical officer of Delhi’s LNJP hospital, told AFP.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is leading the probe into the explosion, which came hours after police said they had arrested a gang and seized explosive materials and assault rifles.
Home Minister Amit Shah, after chairing security talks following Monday’s blast, said he had instructed officials “to hunt down each and every culprit behind this incident”.
Police said the men were linked with groups Jaish-i-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. India lists both groups as terrorist organisations.
Indian police are investigating if there is a link between this week’s car blast in Delhi and the earlier arrest of a group of seven men from occupied Kashmir with arms and bomb-making material, according to three sources familiar with the probe.
Indian authorities are investigating the blast under a stringent anti-terrorism law and have said that all angles are being probed. They have not named anyone or made any arrests in connection with the explosion.
Two doctors arrested
Hours before the blast in Delhi, police in Indian occupied Kashmir said they had arrested seven men, including two doctors, in connection with a separate anti-terror probe and searches in the region and in the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that border Delhi.
Police found two pistols, two assault rifles and 2,900 kilogrammes of bomb-making material during the raids, a police statement said.
“The investigation has revealed a white collar terror ecosystem, involving radicalised professionals and students in contact with foreign handlers, operating from Pakistan and other countries,” it alleged, claiming that the men were linked to groups Jaish-i-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.
The Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Senior Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have vowed to punish those behind the Delhi blast, with Modi saying no “conspirator” would be spared.
In April, 26 men were killed in an attack on Hindu tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without any evidence, blamed on Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. The crisis led to the worst military conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades before they agreed to a ceasefire after four days.
Raids in occupied Kashmir
The connection between the Delhi car driver and the seven men arrested is being investigated, the three sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media on the sensitive issue.
Investigations were focused on whether the driver was a doctor and a colleague of one of the two arrested, one of the sources said.
Spokespersons for the Delhi Police and the NIA did not respond to requests for comment.
Following the Delhi blast, police in occupied Kashmir carried out raids at hundreds of locations in the region and about 500 people were detained, a police source told Reuters. Most were let off after questioning, the source said.
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