Israel blames Iran for attacks in New Delhi, Tbilisi

Feb 13, 2012, 14:42 GMT

Tel Aviv - Israel on Monday blamed Iran for two attacks that injured four people - a car bombing in India and another foiled car bombing in Georgia - which it said targeted its diplomatic missions.

'In recent months we have witnessed several attempts to attack Israeli citizens and Jews in several countries, including Azerbaijan, Thailand and others,' said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

'Today we have witnessed two additional attempted terrorist attacks on innocent civilians, the first against an Israeli woman who was wounded in New Delhi and the second against a local employee of the Israeli embassy in Georgia.

'Iran is behind these attacks; it is the largest exporter of terrorism in the world,' Netanyahu said.

Tehran however rejected the accusations, with the country's envoy to India, Syed Mehdi Nabizadeh, saying: 'All the allegations made by Israel are absolutely false and unfortunate lies.'

'We condemn any terrorist action. India must probe who is responsible for the explosion,' he told Indian broadcaster NewsX.

The incidents came a day after the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, for which Hezbollah - believed to be funded by Iran - blames Israel.

The wife of an Israeli Defence Ministry representative was among the four people injured when the car bomb exploded some 300 metres from the official residence of Indian Premier Manmohan Singh.

The woman, identified in Israel as Tal Yehoshua Koren, was in a stable condition in hospital. Her driver sustained minor injuries in the blast.

Delhi police chief BK Gupta, citing witness accounts, said a motorcyclist had stuck a 'magnetic' device to the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic light. Seconds later, there was an explosion and the car caught fire, he said.

'We heard a loud blast and came here to see what happened. We saw the car burning. There were two people in the car. Bystanders pulled them out,' witness Ravi Singh told journalists.

In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, police disarmed a bomb attached to a vehicle used by Israeli embassy staff.

Embassy driver Roman Khachaturiyan discovered the hand grenade, which had been taped to the bottom of the vehicle, during a routine morning check, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

Israel's diplomats have been on high alert ever since Pakistan-based militants attacked Mumbai in 2008, in which a Jewish centre was also targeted.

Media reports in Israel said the country's embassies had since moved to the highest possible security alert, with diplomats in some missions instructed not to use their vehicles.

'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,' India's External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said in New Delhi.

'I have just spoken to the Israeli Foreign Minister (Avigdor Lieberman). We will keep him posted on the progress in the investigation,' Krishna said.

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