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.
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 best-known landmarks and the site of the annual Independence Day speech by the prime minister.
It was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), triggering clashes with Pakistan.
“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”.
Indian police are investigating whether there is a link between this week’s car blast in Delhi and the earlier arrest of a group of seven men from the restive IIOJK region, found with arms and bomb-making material, three sources familiar with the probe said on Wednesday.
The blast on Monday evening outside Delhi’s historic Red Fort killed eight people and wounded at least 20, the first such explosion in the heavily guarded city of more than 30 million people since 2011.
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.
Hours before the blast in Delhi, police in IIOJK said they had arrested seven men, including two doctors, in connection with a separate anti-terror probe and searches in occupied region, as well as 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 IIOJK police statement said.
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 are focused on whether the driver was a doctor and a colleague of one of the two arrested, one of the sources added.
Following the Delhi blast, IIOJK police carried out raids at hundreds of locations in the Himalayan region and about 500 people were detained, an IIOJK police source told Reuters. Most were released after questioning, the source said.
Spokespersons for the Delhi Police and the National Investigation Agency — the federal anti-terror agency that has taken over the probe — did not respond to requests 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.