New Delhi was once again rocked by the terror attack on Monday when an Israeli diplomat’s car burnt into flames due to an explosion that happened approximately 200 metres away from the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
According to reports, the Toyota Innova car (registration number 109 CD 35) was being followed by a motorcyclist on Aurangzeb Road. The moment the car halted at a traffic signal, at the junction of Safdarjung Road and Aurangzeb Road, the individual placed a magnetic bomb on the rear end of the car. After a few seconds an explosion occurred due to which three passengers of the Innova car suffered multiple injuries.
Tal Yehoshua Korene, wife of Israeli defence attaché, who was going to pick her kids from the American Embassy School, was among the injured passengers. One of the passengers suffered severe spinal injuries due to shrapnel present in the device that includes nitro glycerine. The attack on Israeli diplomat’s car in India was similar to an attempted assault on Israeli Embassy personnel in Georgia. With the help of CCTV cameras installed at Aurangzeb Road, the investigators were able to get some crucial clues about the suspected bomber.
According to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, "Iran is behind these attacks; it is the largest exporter of terrorism in the world. In recent months, we have witnessed several attempts to attack Israeli citizens and Jews in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Thailand and others. Iran and its proxy Hezbollah were behind all of these attempted attacks." Even Indian Intelligence sources are suspecting Iranian connection behind the magnetic bomb attack.
In January 2012, a magnetic bomb was used for killing an Iranian nuclear scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan. Two terrorists planted a small magnetic bomb in his car. Besides, four Iranian scientists have been killed in the past two years and three of them died because of magnetic bombs that were placed in their respective vehicles by assailants riding motorcycle. Fereydoun Abbasi (Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation) was the only nuclear scientist that survived the blast as he jumped from car few seconds before it exploded.
In the wake of recent attack on Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi, other countries have tightened security around Israel Embassy. Speaking about the recent car blast, S.M. Krishna, External Affair Minister commented, "India very strongly condemns such incidents and it is going to be fully investigated and the culprits will be brought to justice at the earliest. I have just spoken to the Israeli foreign minister and I have reassured the Israeli foreign minister that the law of the land will take its course. The investigation has already started and we will continue with it and then keep him posted as and when we get progress report of the investigation."
