New Delhi: Affirming the Israeli claim that the blast in their embassy vehicle in New Delhi today was a terror attack, Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta said a motorcyclist was suspected to be behind the attack.
The blast in the Toyota Innova that occurred 100 metres away from 7 Race Course Road, the official residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh injured, an Israeli woman diplomat in the 40s and her driver, Manoj Sharma, 42.
The blast hit Israeli embassy vehicle in New Delhi. AP
A Tata Indica vehicle, occupied by Arun Sharma, 21 and Manjit Singh, 78, that was behind the embassy’s multi-utility vehicle was also damaged while the occupants sustained minor injuries.
The driver of the embassy vehicle has sustained minor injuries while the diplomat has been shifted to a private hospital from Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where she was initially taken.
According to an eyewitness, the woman who was driving the Innova was thrown by the impact of the explosion to the other side of road and was seen to be profusely bleeding.
She refused to be taken to the hospital and insisted on being taken to the embassy and was then taken there in autorickshaw.
The Delhi Police commissioner said that the diplomat was on her way to the US Embassy in the Chanakyapuri area in New Delhi to pick up her children from school. Her husband is also an Israeli embassy official in New Delhi.
Israel has not given the name of the wounded official citing security reasons.
Reacting to the incident, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said, “I have spoken to Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. I have told him that the law of the land will take its course. Investigation is already underway. We will keep the Israeli foreign minister posted.”
The explosion that took place around 3.15pm tore through the diplomat’s car. The car was not far from the Israeli embassy when the incident happened, said embassy spokesman David Goldfarb.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor also would not discuss the person nor the extent of the injuries because it was a security matter.
“We are looking into the incident and cooperation with local security forces is excellent,” Palmor said, from Israel.
Television footage showed a charred minivan with blue diplomatic plates, its rear door apparently blown out.
However, police said that a car was on fire on the street outside the embassy.
The ministry said Israel thwarted a similar attack on an Israeli Embassy vehicle in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. The bomb was discovered before it went off.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion fell on Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, both of which have deep grievances against the Jewish state.
Hezbollah recently marked the anniversary of the 2008 assassination of one of its commanders, Imad Mughniyeh, in a bombing widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
Iran suspects Israeli involvement in a series of killings of officials and scientists involved in its controversial nuclear programme.
Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia said an explosive device was planted on the car of a driver for the Israeli Embassy.
Shota Utiashvili, spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said the driver noticed a package attached to his car’s undercarriage on Monday and called police.
Police found a grenade in the package and it was defused, Utiashvili said. He did not specify where the car was parked when the device was discovered.
There was no immediate comment from Iran but speculation will undoubtedly be raised over the possibility of Iranian-linked payback for assassinations on nuclear scientists and other covert plots that Tehran has blamed on Israel’s spy agency Mossad and Western allies.
Last month, a director of Iran’s main uranium enrichment site was killed in a blast from a magnetic bomb placed on his car. The official, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, was at least the fifth member of Iran’s scientific community killed in apparent targeted attacks in the past two years.
Iran accused Israel of being behind the attacks. Later, Iran’s official news agency IRNA said it had “evidence” of alleged US and British involvement in the Roshan killing.
What the Israeli media is saying:
Wife of Israeli diplomat wounded in car blast near New Delhi embassy
Netanyahu: Iran behind attack on Israeli officials in New Delhi
Watch a CNN-IBN video below:
Agencies and FP Staff
