New Delhi:
Fresh links have emerged between the Delhi Red Fort car bomb blast — which killed nine people and injured several others — and Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the same group responsible for the 2019 Pulwama attack, police sources revealed on Tuesday.
According to initial findings, the bomb — packed with ammonium nitrate fuel oil — was planted inside a Hyundai i20 parked near the Red Fort premises. Investigators believe at least two operational links connect the explosion to Jaish-e-Mohammed’s network, including its women’s wing, headed by Sadiya Azhar, the sister-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar.
Founded by globally designated terrorist Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed has a long record of attacks on Indian soil. The group faced major retaliation from India following the Pulwama terror strike in February 2019, which claimed 40 soldiers’ lives, and the Pahalgam massacre in April 2025, where 26 civilians were killed.
In response, India’s Balakot airstrikes in 2019 targeted JeM’s training camps in Pakistan, followed by missile operations on May 7, 2025, that destroyed the group’s Bahawalpur headquarters.
Masood Azhar later admitted that 10 members of his family, including his brother-in-law Yusuf Azhar, were killed in the Bahawalpur strike. Yusuf Azhar was married to Sadiya Azhar, now under scrutiny for allegedly running the Jaish women’s recruitment and logistics wing, which is believed to have played a supporting role in the Red Fort car bombing.
Security agencies are investigating possible financial and communication trails connecting Sadiya’s cell to the Indian module responsible for the attack.
Top intelligence sources have confirmed that a joint counter-terrorism operation is underway, involving Delhi Police Special Cell, NIA, and RAW, to trace the handlers and funding channels behind the explosion.
Authorities said this incident highlights the resurgence of Jaish sleeper cells in northern India and a renewed attempt by Pakistan-based groups to destabilize Indian cities through low-intensity, high-impact bombings.