NEW DELHI - Indian police Friday detained two people in Uttar Pradesh in northern India in connection with the Delhi High Court blast two days ago which claimed 13 lives, reported the Indo-Asian News Service.

One person was detained in the holy city of Varanasi and another in Bela village on the outskirts of Balrampur district of the state, "essentially on account of their resemblance with the sketch of suspects released by Delhi Police", the report quoted police as saying.

The man detained at the Shivpur police station in Varanasi was identified as Lekhma Ram, a resident of Ajmer, Rajasthan in western India where there is a large Muslim community.

Indian police also arrested five people in Indian-controlled Kashmir Thursday over the e-mail reportedly sent by the Harkat-ul- Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), a militant group, to claim responsibility for the bomb blast which also injured 96 people Wednesday.