NEW DELHI: India’s anti-terrorism agency spearheaded on Wednesday (Nov 12) 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 investigating if there is a link between the blast and the earlier arrest of a group of seven men from the restive Kashmir region with arms and bomb-making material, three sources familiar with the probe said on Wednesday.
Hours before the blast in New Delhi, police in the Jammu and Kashmir federal territory said they had arrested seven men, including two doctors, in connection with a separate anti-terror probe and searches in Kashmir, and in the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh that border Delhi.
Police found two pistols, two assault rifles and 2,900 kg of bomb-making material during the raids, a Kashmir 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 said, adding that the men were linked to Pakistan-based militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.
India lists both groups as terrorist organisations.
Pakistan’s foreign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the explosion on Monday evening a “conspiracy”, and has vowed that those responsible will face justice.
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.
It was the most significant security incident since Apr 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan. It was also the first such explosion in heavily guarded New Delhi, a 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.
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”.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/delhi-car-blast-death-toll-rises-12-india-authorities-probing-if-incident-linked-earlier-arrests-5462206
