India Detains Suspects in Kashmir After Deadly Car Blast Near Red Fort; Probe Examines Possible Terror Link

Indian authorities detain suspects as probe continues into New Delhi car blast

SRINAGAR, India — Indian security agencies said Wednesday they have detained several people in the disputed Kashmir region as part of the investigation into a deadly car explosion near New Delhi's historic Red Fort earlier this week. The blast, which struck on Monday, killed eight people and injured several others.

The explosion occurred near the 17th-century Red Fort, a major tourist site where prime ministers traditionally deliver Independence Day speeches each Aug. 15. Officials on Tuesday said they are treating the incident as a possible act of terrorism — a designation that gives investigators broader powers to detain or arrest suspects.

Raids and arrests in Kashmir and near Delhi

Police in southern Pulwama district in Indian-administered Kashmir said at least five people were taken in for questioning following a series of overnight raids. Separately, law enforcement in Faridabad — a city in Haryana state on the outskirts of New Delhi — said they had arrested at least seven people, including two doctors, and seized weapons and a large quantity of bomb-making material.

Indian media have linked those arrests to the New Delhi blast, but police have not publicly confirmed a direct connection while the investigation is ongoing.

How the inquiry unfolded

Four Kashmir police officers familiar with the probe, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive, said the inquiry that led to the suspected cell began after anti-India posters appeared in a Srinagar neighborhood on Oct. 19. The posters reportedly threatened attacks on Indian troops stationed in the region.

According to those officers, closed-circuit television footage helped identify suspects and initially produced the arrest of at least three people. Over the following three weeks of questioning, investigators said they detained two Kashmiri doctors working in other Indian cities and two additional suspects from Kashmir.

Local outlets report investigators are looking into whether another suspected member of the same cell — a Kashmiri doctor who taught at a medical college in Faridabad — was driving the car that exploded. Authorities have not confirmed those reports. Media accounts have suggested the driver either deliberately triggered the blast to avoid arrest or was transporting explosives that detonated accidentally.

Delhi Police spokesman Sanjay Tyagi: "Investigators are probing all possible angles, including a terror attack, an accidental blast or any kind of failure in the car."

Relatives of one accused told reporters they last heard from him on Friday. Shagufta Jan, the sister-in-law of the doctor from Pulwama, said he phoned that day and said he would return home in three days. "That was the last time we spoke with him," she said, adding that police visited the family home on Monday night and took the man’s mother and two brothers in for questioning.

Regional implications and background

Officials and analysts warned that if the explosion is confirmed as a deliberate attack, it could raise tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. New Delhi frequently accuses Pakistan of supporting groups that carry out attacks on Indian soil; Islamabad denies those claims.

The blast follows a deadly April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in which suspected militants killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. That incident prompted reciprocal strikes by India and Pakistan and briefly brought the rivals close to open conflict.

Militancy in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir has persisted since 1989. New Delhi describes the violence as Pakistan-sponsored terrorism; Pakistan rejects that description, and many Kashmiris view the insurgency as a legitimate freedom struggle. New Delhi has also experienced major bombings in past decades — including a 1996 car bombing in Lajpat Nagar and coordinated 2008 blasts in busy shopping areas — which killed scores of people.

The investigation into Monday’s blast is ongoing, and authorities have cautioned against drawing conclusions until forensic and intelligence work is complete. Police continue to question suspects and gather evidence.

Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Associated Press contributed reporting.