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Three detained in Delhi blast

NEW DELHI, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Indian authorities investigating the deadly bomb attack at the New Delhi high court Thursday questioned a cyber cafe owner and two others in Kashmir.

The detention of the three in the Indian-administered province came after authorities traced an e-mail claiming responsibility for Wednesday's attack to the Global Internet Cafe in Kashmir's Kishtwar area, the Times of India reported.

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The e-mail sent to several television outlets, the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, known as HuJI, an Islamic extremist group based in Pakistan, said the group was responsible for the bomb attack at the crowded court that killed 12 people and injured dozens more, the report said.

Sources told the Times of India investigators with the National Investigation Agency questioned the cafe owner and his brother. The third person detained was not identified.

Kashmir, a predominantly Muslim province, is claimed by both India and Pakistan.

The death toll rose to 12 Thursday after one of the more than six dozen people injured died.

The e-mail from HuJI demanded commutation of the death sentence of Afzal Guru, convicted for the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament.

"We are questioning the owner of a cyber cafe and some other people to establish the identity of the e-mail sender," CNN reported, quoting a police official. "We can confirm the e-mail was sent from Kishtwar area."

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The Hindustan Times reported authorities also were scanning the message traffic and other records of the Kishtwar cyber cafe to find out about all those who had visited it Wednesday.

The court explosion was caused by explosives in a briefcase left outside one of the gates just after the court opened. It was the second explosion at the same site since May 25 when a car bomb attack failed.

The BBC reported the U.S. State Department has identified HuJI as a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida.

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