 "Dr Umar Nabi was the man who drove the i20 car that exploded near Red Fort, DNA test results confirm.")
A week after a car explosion near the Red Fort in Delhi killed 13 people, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated on Sunday, November 16, that the driver, Umar ul Nabi, a doctor by profession, was a “suicide bomber”. The NIA described the Delhi blast as the first incident in which the car was officially classified as a “vehicle-borne IED (Improvised Explosive Device)".
This marks the first car-borne suicide attack in the national capital and the second since the 2019 Pulwama bombing, when a suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF convoy, killing 40 personnel in south Kashmir. It also follows the February 10, 2018, suicide assault on the army’s Sunjwan camp in Jammu, when terrorists stormed the installation.
Alleged conspirator arrested in Delhi
The NIA has arrested a Kashmiri resident, Amir Rashid Ali of Samboora, Pampore, who allegedly conspired with Umar Un Nabi to execute the blast at Red Fort last Monday. The car used in the attack was registered in Amir’s name.
“Amir had come to Delhi to facilitate the purchase of the car which was eventually used as a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to trigger the blast,” the NIA said
According to a report by The Print, the car was bought from a second-hand dealer in Faridabad through the OLX marketplace. The dealer, Amit Patel, told the outlet that two men purchased the car using documents from Jammu & Kashmir.
The NIA confirmed that it had forensically identified the deceased driver as Umar Un Nabi, a Pulwama resident who worked as an assistant professor in the general medicine department at Al Falah University in Faridabad. Another vehicle belonging to Nabi has been seized and is being examined for evidence.
Investigation [[underway
The agency has examined 73 witnesses so far, including individuals injured in the November 10 blast. It stated that it is working closely with police forces in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, along with other agencies, to trace the wider network behind the attack.
Three cartridges of 9mm calibre — two live and one empty — were recovered from the blast site, and police are investigating how they were found there, as such cartridges are prohibited for civilian use. Investigators have also uncovered online chats linked to the module that were intended to influence other youths, including women.