Israel diplomat attack by ‘well-trained’ operative - India
India: A bomb blast that badly wounded an Israeli diplomat in New
Delhi was a terrorist attack by a highly-trained operative, the Indian
government said Yesterday, as Israel accused Iran of being responsible.
The injured female diplomat was described by doctors as stable after
overnight surgery to remove shrapnel from her spine after the attack, in
which a motorcyclist planted a suspected magnetic bomb on her car.
“The explosion according to eyewitnesses happened within seconds of
the device being planted,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters
in Delhi. “It is quite clear that a very well-trained person carried out
this attack.” “One has to progress on the basis that it was a terrorist
attack,” he said, adding “we are not pointing our finger at any group or
organisation.” In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
condemned Monday's attack in India and an attempted bombing in Georgia
in the “strongest possible terms” but the White House reserved judgment
on who was responsible.
Israel said it was in no doubt about whom to blame, after the embassy
car in New Delhi exploded in a ball of flames while police defused an
explosive fixed to another embassy vehicle in the Georgian capital
Tbilisi.
“Iran is behind these attacks. It is the biggest exporter of terror
in the world,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of
his right-wing Likud party in Jerusalem.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast rejected the
accusations. “Iran condemns all acts of terrorism,” he was quoted as
saying by Al-Alam television.
Bystanders dragged the 42-year-old Israeli diplomat and her Indian
driver from their burning car after the hitman fixed the bomb to the
silver Toyota as it slowed for a junction in central Delhi.
“She has sustained multiple shrapnel injuries. Because of the
explosion, sharp metal objects were found in her liver, lungs and spinal
cord,” Arun Bhanot, a doctor at the Primus Hospital in Delhi, told
reporters.
AFP
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