- Authorities say suspect Amir Rashid Ali was arrested in Delhi.
- NIA seizes vehicle belonging to suspected suicide bomber.
- Ali accused of conspiring with driver Umar Un Nabi.
India's federal counter-terrorism agency said on Sunday it had arrested a resident of Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOJK), accusing him of conspiring with the driver of a car that exploded in Delhi last week, killing 12 people and injuring at least 20 others.
The National Investigation Agency said it had arrested Amir Rashid Ali in Delhi, adding that the car used in the attack was registered in his name.
The NIA accused Ali of conspiring with the suspected suicide bomber, whom it identified as Umar Un Nabi, a resident of Pulwama district of IIOJK.
He said Ali came to Delhi to facilitate the purchase of the car, which was used as a “vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to cause the explosion”.
The agency said it had seized another vehicle belonging to Nabi for examination. So far it has questioned 73 witnesses, including those injured in the explosion.
Last week, the Indian government said it was treating the car explosion as a “terrorist incident” and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice as quickly as possible.
The blast outside Delhi's historic Red Fort was the first such explosion in the heavily guarded city since 2011.
It was also the biggest security incident since April 22, when 26 civilians were killed at the Pahalgam tourist site in IIOJK.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Delhi blast a “conspiracy” and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.
India's Home Minister Amit Shah said he had ordered officials to “hunt down each and every culprit in this incident.”
The blast came four days after a blast rocked IIOJK's Srinagar, killing at least nine people and injuring more than two dozen.
Indian officials said the blast took place when a cache of confiscated explosives detonated inside a police station, causing most of the deaths among police officers and members of the forensic team inspecting the explosives.
