By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Indian authorities on Sunday said a deadly car blast in New Delhi last week in which at least twelve persons were feared dead was an attack carried out by a “suicide bomber”, saying an accomplice has been arrested.
The country’s counter-terrorism law enforcement body, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said the attacker and the second suspect were both from an area of Kashmir under the territory of India, where police have carried out sweeping raids in recent days.
Announcing “a breakthrough” in the investigation, the NIA said it had arrested Amir Rashid Ali, describing him as an accomplice of the “suicide bomber” under whose name “the car involved in the attack was registered”.
The suspect according to a statement by the agency had come to Delhi to “facilitate the purchase of the car which was eventually used as a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to trigger the blast”.
The NIA identified the driver as Umar Un Nabi, a resident of Kashmir who was an assistant professor in general medicine at a university in the northern state of Haryana.
The explosion on Monday took place near a busy metro station close to the landmark Red Fort in the capital’s Old Delhi quarter, where the prime minister delivers the annual Independence Day address.
A hospital official has confirmed that the blast killed 12 people but it was unclear whether Nabi the driver was among those that died.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11, called a deadly car explosion in the heart of the capital a “conspiracy”, vowing those responsible will face justice.
The NIA’s statement said the attack “claimed 10 innocent lives and left 32 others injured”.
The NIA said it had seized another vehicle belonging to Nabi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed that his government will bring the “perpetrators, their collaborators and their sponsors” to justice.
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-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory in full. Tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad.
