NEW DELHI — Deadly explosions in the capitals of India and Pakistan within 24 hours of each other killed at least 20 people and left several injured, heightening concern of renewed tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Even as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was still investigating the cause of the blast in New Delhi Monday evening — when a car slowed down at a traffic light near the historic Red Fort and exploded — a suicide bomber outside a crowded court building in Islamabad blew himself up on Tuesday afternoon after he was denied entry into the premises.

In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad accused India of backing terrorist attacks in Pakistan from Afghan territory and described Tuesday’s incident as one of the “worst examples of Indian state-sponsored terrorism in the region.” The statement offered no evidence linking the blast to New Delhi and comes amid a pattern of similar accusations by Islamabad.

The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar group, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, the Associated Press reported. Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar didn’t immediately comment.

India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson called the Pakistani allegations “baseless and unfounded” and the country’s leadership “obviously delirious” in a statement posted to X.

“It is a predictable tactic by Pakistan to concoct false narratives against India in order to deflect the attention of its own public from the ongoing military-inspired constitutional subversion and power-grab unfolding within the country,” Randhir Jaiswal wrote.

Earlier in the day, Modi had pledged to punish the “conspirators” behind the Delhi blast but stopped short of naming any suspects or labeling the explosion a terror attack.

Suspicions between running deep following a four-day military clash earlier this year in which both countries conducted strikes on each other using missiles, drones, artillery and other weapons. The May conflict, which was the deadliest between the neighbors since a full blown war in 1971, was triggered by an attack on Indian tourists in the contested region of Kashmir, which New Delhi blamed on terrorists sponsored by Pakistan.

This week’s episodes raise the risk of another clash between the two nations, said Subir Sinha, director of the SOAS South Asia Institute in London. “There is appetite despite the qualified success of the previous campaign against Pakistan” for another conflict among many in India, he said. “For a large chunk of the public, that campaign was a resounding success.”

Pakistan’s key stock index extended an earlier decline to close down 2.4%, the lowest in about a month.

A resident of Kashmir had bought the car and was in it when it went up in flames in New Delhi on Monday, according to Indian officials with knowledge of the matter, who said the possibility of the suspect being a suicide attacker is being investigated. The Indian government has asked its agency that handles terrorism probes to investigate the incident, the people said, asking not to be identified as details aren’t yet public. An email to India’s Ministry of Home Affairs wasn’t immediately answered.

In Tuesday’s statement, Islamabad said it had also ordered an investigation into the incident and “vowed to bring those responsible to justice.”

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—With assistance from Khalid Qayum, Alex Gabriel Simon and Michelle Jamrisko.

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