Delhi Blast: Police To Probe Explosion As Terror Attack, Invokes UAPA

Delhi Blast Update: The Red Fort blast in New Delhi is now officially being probed as a terror attack, according to NDTV.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday have invoked Section 16 and Section 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the Red Fort blast FIR, covering acts of terrorism and related punishment. They have also added Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, along with charges of murder and attempt to murder.

According to NDTV, Jaish-e-Muhammad operatives are likely behind the attack, connected with arrests made in Faridabad and Saharanpur.

A high-intensity explosion ripped through a slow-moving car at a traffic signal near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening, killing at least nine people and gutting several vehicles. Twenty people, including two women, were injured in the blast that took place on a busy evening when the area was milling with people. The injured were taken to the LNJP Hospital, a few kilometres away.

Police said that the car, in which the blast took place, had three occupants, adding that they are also probing if it was a suicide bomber attack. "The blast occurred in a moving Hyundai i20 car in which three people were sitting. We have not found any pellet or puncture in the body of the injured, which is unusual in a blast. We are investigating all angles," said a senior police officer.

Eyewitnesses said that the explosion was deafening and they were unable to hear anything clearly after several minutes. The loud blast was heard over a wide area up to ITO, covering around two kms, they said. It shattered the window panes of vehicles parked several metres away and the glass panels of the Red Fort metro station.

The Delhi Police detained car owner Mohd. Salman late in the evening and questioned him about the vehicle, the officer said, adding that he sold it to a person in Okhla namely Devendra one-and-a-half years ago. Later, the vehicle was sold to someone in Ambala and it was again sold to a man named Tariq in Pulwama, and police are tracing the people, the officer said.

A high alert has been sounded in Delhi, and security has been beefed up at city border points, with vehicle checking intensified. Panic gripped the area as fire billowed from burning cars following the explosion.

(With inputs from PTI)