Indian federal investigators examined two unverified claims by militant groups yesterday that they were behind a deadly bomb blast at New Delhi’s High Court that left 12 people dead.
One claim sent by e-mail purportedly sent from Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI), a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group, was traced to an internet café in Kishtwar, a town in the volatile Muslim-majority region of Indian Kashmir. Local police said that two brothers who owned the café and one employee were taken in for questioning, but no formal arrests had been made.
A separate e-mail sent to media organisations yesterday said the bomb was the work of the home-grown Indian Mujahideen outfit and threatened another attack on a shopping mall next week.
Neither claim was confirmed by police as genuine, but Internal Security Secretary UK Bansal said intelligence agencies were “seriously examining” both e-mails.
Wednesday’s powerful blast ripped through a crowd of litigants queuing to enter the court complex in the heart of the Indian capital, killing 12 people and injuring nearly 80.
It was the latest in a long list of bombings in Indian cities and prompted searching questions in the national media about the authorities’ inability to prevent such attacks and bring the perpetrators to justice. Police separately released sketches of two suspects seen at the site of the blast.
“We have some leads but it is too early to say which group is behind it,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters on his plane as he returned late Wednesday from an official visit to Bangladesh.
“There are obviously unresolved problems and weaknesses in our system and the terrorists are taking advantage of that,” Mr Singh said.
“We must work hard to plug those weaknesses,” he added.
It was the first major attack on Indian soil since triple blasts in Mumbai on July 13 killed 26 people. It has still not been established who carried out those bombings.
The Delhi High Court had also been targeted four months ago, when a low-intensity bomb exploded in the parking lot, causing no casualties and only minimal damage.