The death toll from the car explosion in New Delhi rises to 12

• Police are investigating whether two Kashmiri doctors are linked to the Delhi blast.
• Doctors, five others were earlier held with weapons and explosive material.
• No suspects or arrests have been named in the Delhi blast.

India’s counter-terrorism agency on Wednesday led a third day of investigations into a car explosion in the capital, as a hospital official said the death toll rose to 12.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Monday night’s blast a “conspiracy” and vowed that those responsible would face justice.

Police have not yet released exact details of what caused the loud explosion near the historic Red Fort in the city’s bustling Old Delhi district, one of India’s best-known landmarks and the site of the prime minister’s annual Independence Day speech.

It was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mostly Hindu civilians were killed in the tourist resort of Pahalgam in the illegally occupied Indian Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), sparking clashes with Pakistan.

“Twelve people died and more than 30 were injured,” said Ritu Saxena, chief medical officer of Delhi’s LNJP hospital. AFP.

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) is leading the probe into the blast, which came hours after police said they had arrested a gang and seized explosives and assault rifles.

Home Minister Amit Shah, after chairing security talks after Monday’s blast, said he had instructed officials to “go after every culprit behind this incident”.

Indian police are investigating whether there is a link between this week’s car explosion in Delhi and the earlier arrest of a group of seven men from the restive IIOJK area, who were found with weapons and bomb-making materials, three sources familiar with the investigation said on Wednesday.

Monday night’s blast outside Delhi’s historic Red Fort killed eight people and injured 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 strict anti-terrorism law and have said all angles are being investigated. They have not named anyone or made any arrests in connection with the blast.

Hours before the Delhi blast, police at IIOJK said they had arrested seven men, including two doctors, in connection with a separate counter-terror probe and searches in the occupied territory, as well as in the states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh bordering Delhi.

Police recovered two pistols, two assault rifles and 2,900 kilograms of bomb-making material during the raids, according to a statement from the IIOJK police.

The link between the Delhi auto driver and the seven men arrested is being investigated, said the three sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the sensitive matter.

Inquiries are focusing on whether the driver was a doctor and a colleague of one of the two arrested, one of the sources added.

After the Delhi blast, IIOJK police raided hundreds of locations in the Himalayan region and around 500 people were arrested, an IIOJK police source said. Reuters. Most were released after questioning, the source said.

Spokesmen for the Delhi Police and the National Investigation Agency – the federal counter-terrorism agency handling the investigation – 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.