Delhi bomber Umar Nabi's suitcase was his 'mobile' bomb-making unit, says report

Red Fort blast

As the investigation into the Delhi Red Fort blast intensifies, suspects arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) told investigators that Umar Un Nabi, the doctor who drove the car which had the bomb, had a secret 'mobile' bomb-making unit.

Nabi's 'mobile workstation' was a huge suitcase that he carried wherever he went. It contained bomb-making material such as chemical compounds and containers to store them, sources were cited as saying by NDTV.

Umar Un Nabi, who worked at Faridabad's Al-Falah University, ran tests - right in his campus room - of the chemical compound which he later used in making the improvised explosive device (IED), arrested terror suspect Muzamil Shakeel told investigators, NDTV reported.

Shakeel was also a doctor at Al-Falah University.

This claim by the terror suspect was corroborated with the bomb-making items found inside his suitcase by the police.

Earlier, it was reported that Nabi had allegedly set up a full-fledged laboratory inside his house near Al-Falah University in Faridabad, where he experimented with chemicals, tested explosives, and assembled devices based on instructions sent by his Pakistani handlers on Telegram, according to a TOI report.

The report, citing sources, said that Umar may have assembled the “loosely put together” improvised explosive device (IED) used in the Red Fort car blast at this very home lab. During the raids, authorities recovered testing equipment and traces of multiple explosive compounds.

Delhi Red Fort blast

The suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi carried a half-completed IED in the Hyundai i20 car and detonated it near the Red Fort in Delhi on November 10. At least 15 people were killed and several others were injured in the terror attack.

Umar reportedly initially planned to detonate the bomb near the parking at Red Fort, a tourist area that also houses a busy market, but 'panicked' after the arrest of his associates -- Shaheen Saeed and Muzammil Shakeel -- in connection with the wider probe into the 'white-collar' terror module earlier.

Since the explosion, several arrests have been made and further investigation is underway.