Israeli diplomat in car explosion identified, cops scanning CCTV footage

New Delhi: The Israeli woman injured in the car bomb explosion in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi’s diplomat enclave, late Monday afternoon has been identified as Tal Yehoshua-Koren. She is a staffer of the Israeli embassy’s accounts department and is married to Alon Yehoshua, who also  works at the embassy’s defence department. The blast occurred at about 3.20 pm on Aurangzeb road, close to the Israeli Embassy, as she was on her way from office to the American Embassy School to pick up her children. The driver of the car — a Toyota Innova — Manoj Sharma , was admitted at the RML hospital with splinter injuries. He told the Indian Express that after the blast his seat belt got jammed and he had to pull it out. “…jumped out of the window since the door was jammed. Then I dragged madam out of the car,” he told the Indian Express. [caption id=“attachment_212384” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Security throng the site of the car explosion in New Delhi. AP”]  [/caption] An earlier eyewitness account had suggested that the impact of the blast had thrown the lady across the road. The two others injured in the blast have been identified as Arun Sharma and Manjeet Singh and were driving an Indica behind the diplomat’s car. Both suffered splinter injuries and after treatment have been discharged from RML. Eyewitness accounts suggest that the blast occurred seconds after a man on a bike stuck an object on to the car and sped off. The Times of India reports that a investigators have got a crucial clue to the assailant in the footage from the two CCTV cameras installed at the industrialist Analjit Singh’s 15, Aurangzeb Road residence. “The bomber, in a brown jacket on a motorcycle, is seen tailing the embassy car at 3.10 pm at a distance of 2-3 seconds. The cameras could not capture the registration number of bike” the Times of India reports. Tal Yehoshua is stable after having undergone two surgeries at the Primus Ortho hospital in Chanakyapuri. The patient is said to have been partially paralysed due to injury to her spine but is expected to recover following the removal of the shrapnel causing the compression of the spine, the Times of India reports. In an operation that lasted 2.5 hours, shrapnel were also removed from her liver. According to sources in the police, hours before the blast Tal Yehoshua had lunch at Khan market with her husband. The CCTV footage at Khan market is also being investigated.