(Reuters) – Bombers targeted staff at Israel’s embassies in India and Georgia on Monday, the foreign ministry said, with a bomb going off in New Delhi but a second device in Tbilisi defused.
Indian police said a bomb hit an embassy car and wounded a woman. She was not immediately identified and there was no word on her condition.
“There was one attempted attack, and one successful, as it were,” said Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry. “In both cases, the people concerned worked with the Israeli embassies.”
He also confirmed that a bomb had been found in a car belonging to a staffer at the embassy in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, which was defused by local police.
Hirschson said the Israeli ambassador to India was not hurt in the New Delhi attack.
Israel had put its foreign missions on especially high alert ahead of the February 12 anniversary of the assassination, in 2008, of the military mastermind of Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas, linked to the Shi’ite Islamist group Hezbollah, Imad Moughniyeh.
Iranian-backed Hezbollah had vowed to avenge Moughniyeh’s death in a Damascus car-bombing, blaming it on Israel.
Israelis had also warned of possible reprisals ordered by Tehran for the assassination of several scientists involved in Iran’s controversial nuclear program. No-one has claimed responsibility for the Iran killings.
Isreali Media Reports.
A day after the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah’s military commander, two seemingly coordinated attacks were launched on Monday against Israeli embassies overseas.
In the first attack, the wife of an Israeli diplomat was injured when a bomb exploded in her car in New Delhi, India. The woman succeeded in driving to the Israeli embassy where she was evacuated to a nearby hospital.
Local authorities were investigating the possibility that the bomb was planted under the car or alternatively that an assassin on a motorbike attached it to the vehicle as it was driving.
In the second attack, an embassy staffer in Tbilisi, Georgia discovered a bomb underneath his car as he was driving to the embassy Monday morning. The staffer – a local Georgian national – heard something during the drive, pulled over to the side of the road, noticed the bomb and called local authorities. The bomb was dismantled before exploding.
Israeli security authorities raised the level of alert worldwide following the attacks. Security officials said that it was possible that the attacks were connected to the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in Damascus on February 12, 2008.
Diplomats worldwide have been ordered to check in and citizens currently overseas have been asked to do the same, reporting where they are and what their status is.
The attacks were believed to be coordinated. Iran and Hezbollah have tried a number of times in recent years to avenge Mughniyeh’s assassination.
Israel raised its level of alert in early January surrounding delegations overseas out of concern that Iran and Hezbollah are trying to launch an attack ahead of the fourth anniversary of the assassination Mughniyeh. Attacks were recently thwarted in Azerbaijan and in Thailand.
Other attempts have included a plan to shoot down an Israeli airliner over Turkey with shoulder-to-air missiles and a plan to attack Israeli tourists in the Sinai.
New Delhi: Indian Media Reportings : Hours after the Balst – A car belonging to the Israeli Embassy caught fire after a minor explosion in Delhi’s Tughlak Road on Monday injuring four people. An Israeli Embassy spokesman said that the car was near the embassy when the incident occurred and added that one of those injured was a woman diplomat.
The driver of the Innova car with the diplomatic number plate 109 CD 35 and two others have also been injured.
The woman reported to be injured in the blast is the wife of Israel’s defence attache. The Israeli Foreign Ministry told they were treating the blast as a terror attack.
Investigators are looking for two young men on a motorcycle, who were spotted near the car just before it caught fire. Some eyewitnesses claimed that the men threw something at the Innova car following which there was a minor explosion.
The explosion was reportedly heard by some Special Protection Group officials posted in the area, which is a high-security zone and has embassies of many other countries and the residences of important leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A team from the Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory is at the spot to investigate. Police is also checking the cause of the fire and also investigating if the fire was the result of a blast.
Doctor at Primus Hospital, where the diplomat’s wife, Til Yehoshua, has been admitted, said she had sustained shrapnel injuries. Doctors are planning to operate upon her.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said, “It was an unfortunate incident. A Israeli member of staff in Delhi has been injured in the incident, we are investigating the incident, India condemn such incident and culprit will be brought to book. I spoke to Israeli foreign minister and told him that law will take its course and investigation is on.”
Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta said that four people have been injured in the blast. “The damage is on the rear. Bike borne attacker are behind it. Three person have superficial injury. But the lady is seriously injured. They were going to pick up their children when the blast occurred. The statement of the lady victim could not be taken.”
Gupta said that the Special Cell of the Delhi police will conduct the investigation. “It may have been some kind of magnetic device which was used to trigger the blast. There was a mild explosion and car got fire.”
The police commissioner, however, refused to comment that it was a terror attack but confirmed that the car was the target.
Medical Superintendent of Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, Dr TS Sidhu, said “three persons with splinter injuries have been brought. They will be discharged soon”.
They were identified as Manoj Sharma (40), driver of the mission vehicle, Arun Sharma (40) and Manjeet Singh (75), who were travelling in a different car near the mission vehicle.
Meanwhile, Centre has ordered tightening of security of diplomatic missions, especially of Israel, US and other Western countries, across the country.
In a related development, explosive device attached to an Israeli Embassy car in Tbilisi (Georgia) has been neutralised, averting the blast. Israeli diplomats around the world have been instructed to report their whereabouts and asked to make their way back to their missions.
Israeli missions around the world have been put on high alert.
Sources say that February 12 was the death anniversary of a senior Hezbollah leader, and the two attempts may not be entirely coincidental.
Very cruel act… good information