Red Fort blast: 9 dead, 20 hurt; Dr Umar held, UK issues travel advisory

Nine people are dead and 20 others injured after a powerful blast ripped through a Hyundai i20 car near Delhi’s Red Fort Metro Station around 6:52 pm on Monday (Nov 10), officials said. The explosion left mangled bodies and damaged vehicles scattered across the busy area.

Preliminary investigation suggests the suspects may have panicked and accidentally detonated the explosives, according to top intelligence sources. The blast occurred just hours after Jammu and Kashmir Police recovered nearly 3,000 kg of explosives from two residential buildings in Faridabad, Haryana.

The first image of Dr Mohammad Umar, a doctor at Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad and the suspected mastermind of the Red Fort blast, has now surfaced. Umar, part of the Faridabad terror module, owned the car used in the explosion. Sources said he panicked and triggered the blast after the arrest of two key module members — Dr Mujammil Shakeel and Dr Adil Rather — and the seizure of explosives. Ammonium nitrate, recovered from Faridabad, was reportedly used in the blast.

As the investigation widens, three more doctors from Faridabad’s Al Falah University have been taken into custody for questioning. Umar is said to be a close associate of Adeel Ahmad Rather, a former senior resident doctor at Government Medical College (GMC), Anantnag, who was arrested last week. Acting on Rather’s inputs, authorities conducted a raid in Faridabad on Monday, leading to Umar’s identification.

In response to the tragedy, Delhi Chief Minister Rekhia Gupta announced financial aid — ₹10 lakh for the families of those killed, ₹5 lakh for the permanently disabled, and ₹2 lakh for those seriously injured.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has updated its travel advisory for British nationals visiting India following the explosion near the Red Fort Metro Station. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) urged citizens in Delhi to follow local authorities' guidance. “There has been an explosion at the Red Fort (Lal Qila) Metro Station, New Delhi,” the FCDO advisory stated.

~ KV NEWS

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