Diplomat among 4 hurt in Delhi car blast; Bomb defused in time by Georgian police in Tbilisi
Jerusalem/New Delhi, February 13
Bombers targeted staff of Israel’s embassies in New Delhi and Georgia on Monday, wounding four persons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of involvement.
In Delhi, an Israeli embassy car exploded when a magnetic bomb stuck to it went off in a high-security area here, critically injuring a woman diplomat besides three others. The injured woman, Talyesshova, is the wife of the Defence Attache of Israel posted at New Delhi. The incident in Delhi occurred hours after a car bomb was defused near Israel’s mission in Georgian capital Tbilisi.
The Delhi blast took place around 500 m away from the official residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. According to initial investigations, two motorcycle-borne youths tailed the Israeli Embassy vehicle on the Aurangzeb road and allegedly attached a device to the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic signal.
Minutes later, there was an explosion and Toyota Innova (109-CD-35) vehicle was engulfed in flames. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said two Israeli Embassy employees were injured in the incident. An eyewitness Ravir Singh said he heard a loud noise following which he rushed to the spot.
“I was at my petrol pump. I heard a loud noise. I rushed to the spot and found a car in flames. A fire tender from nearby Air Force station reached the site to douse the blaze," he said. The police said four cars were damaged in the incident.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said Israel’s allegations against Iran were not being taken on the “face value”. New Delhi would opt to wait for its investigators to send reports and track down motorcyclists.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna called up his counterpart in Tel Aviv and assured him that “the law of the land will take its course”. The case would be fully investigated, Krishna told reporters here. Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta refused to comment on the nature of the explosive saying the forensic laboratory was studying it and they would give a report on that.
COORDINATED STRIKES
Delhi: Two motorcycle-borne youths tail the Israeli Embassy car and allegedly stick a magnetic device on the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic signal. Minutes later, explosion takes place.
India assures Israel of complete probe
NEW DELHI: India today assured Israel of a complete investigation into the car blastincident here in which an Israeli diplomat was injured, saying it strongly condemns any incidents of violence.
Hours within the blast occurred in an Israeli embassy car, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, assuring him that the law of the land will take its course.
"I just came to know about the unfortunate incident a little while earlier in which a staff member's family woman of the Israeli embassy establishment was injured. She has been rushed into the hospital. We are awaiting further information about the well being of the woman," Krishna told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
Asserting that the country very strongly condemns such incidents, Krishna said it will be fully investigated and culprits will be brought to justice.
"I just spoke to the Israeli Foreign Minister and reassured that the law of the land will take its course. We will continue with the investigations and keep him posted about the progress of the investigation," he said.
An Israeli diplomat was in the embassy car when a suspected terror blast took place in it.
We feel very secure in India, says Israeli envoy
NEW DELHI: India will not tolerate attacks on diplomats on its soil, Israel's envoy here said on Monday, adding that Israeli diplomats "feel very secure" in India.
"It is very clear to me that no one in India is going to tolerate such a vicious attack on diplomats on its soil," Israeli ambassador Alon Ushpiz told TimesNow television.
The ambassador, however, declined to discuss security issues related to the Israeli embassy and its staff in India.
"We feel very secure in India, we have the full cooperation of your authorities, we have full confidence in the Indian authorities," he said.
He added that India and Israel had "very solid cooperation" in many areas.
Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna has telephoned his Israeli diplomat to offer his apologies over the attack, the envoy said.
 An Israeli embassy car in flames after an explosion in it near the mission in New Delhi on Monday. — PTI |
Jerusalem/New Delhi, February 13
Bombers targeted staff of Israel’s embassies in New Delhi and Georgia on Monday, wounding four persons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of involvement.
In Delhi, an Israeli embassy car exploded when a magnetic bomb stuck to it went off in a high-security area here, critically injuring a woman diplomat besides three others. The injured woman, Talyesshova, is the wife of the Defence Attache of Israel posted at New Delhi. The incident in Delhi occurred hours after a car bomb was defused near Israel’s mission in Georgian capital Tbilisi.
The Delhi blast took place around 500 m away from the official residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. According to initial investigations, two motorcycle-borne youths tailed the Israeli Embassy vehicle on the Aurangzeb road and allegedly attached a device to the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic signal.
Minutes later, there was an explosion and Toyota Innova (109-CD-35) vehicle was engulfed in flames. Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said two Israeli Embassy employees were injured in the incident. An eyewitness Ravir Singh said he heard a loud noise following which he rushed to the spot.
“I was at my petrol pump. I heard a loud noise. I rushed to the spot and found a car in flames. A fire tender from nearby Air Force station reached the site to douse the blaze," he said. The police said four cars were damaged in the incident.
Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said Israel’s allegations against Iran were not being taken on the “face value”. New Delhi would opt to wait for its investigators to send reports and track down motorcyclists.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna called up his counterpart in Tel Aviv and assured him that “the law of the land will take its course”. The case would be fully investigated, Krishna told reporters here. Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta refused to comment on the nature of the explosive saying the forensic laboratory was studying it and they would give a report on that.
COORDINATED STRIKES
Delhi: Two motorcycle-borne youths tail the Israeli Embassy car and allegedly stick a magnetic device on the rear of the car when it stopped at a traffic signal. Minutes later, explosion takes place.
Georgia: The Georgian police prevents a major attack by defusing a bomb found in a car of an Israeli embassy staff member in Tbilisi.
India assures Israel of complete probe
NEW DELHI: India today assured Israel of a complete investigation into the car blastincident here in which an Israeli diplomat was injured, saying it strongly condemns any incidents of violence.
Hours within the blast occurred in an Israeli embassy car, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, assuring him that the law of the land will take its course.
"I just came to know about the unfortunate incident a little while earlier in which a staff member's family woman of the Israeli embassy establishment was injured. She has been rushed into the hospital. We are awaiting further information about the well being of the woman," Krishna told reporters on the sidelines of a function.
Asserting that the country very strongly condemns such incidents, Krishna said it will be fully investigated and culprits will be brought to justice.
"I just spoke to the Israeli Foreign Minister and reassured that the law of the land will take its course. We will continue with the investigations and keep him posted about the progress of the investigation," he said.
An Israeli diplomat was in the embassy car when a suspected terror blast took place in it.
We feel very secure in India, says Israeli envoy
NEW DELHI: India will not tolerate attacks on diplomats on its soil, Israel's envoy here said on Monday, adding that Israeli diplomats "feel very secure" in India.
"It is very clear to me that no one in India is going to tolerate such a vicious attack on diplomats on its soil," Israeli ambassador Alon Ushpiz told TimesNow television.
The ambassador, however, declined to discuss security issues related to the Israeli embassy and its staff in India.
"We feel very secure in India, we have the full cooperation of your authorities, we have full confidence in the Indian authorities," he said.
He added that India and Israel had "very solid cooperation" in many areas.
Indian external affairs minister S M Krishna has telephoned his Israeli diplomat to offer his apologies over the attack, the envoy said.
Indo-Iran trade ties under pressure: US Jewish lobby wants Delhi to join embargo
WASHINGTON: America's renowned " Jewish lobby" has turned the spotlight on India over its continuing ties with Iran. Pressure from supporters of Israel comes even as US lawmakers, administration officials and editorial pundits are giving New Delhi a hard time over what India insists is a relationship based on energy exigencies and tied to the situation in Afghanistan.
Maintaining that it has been "India's long-time friend and an advocate of increasingly close cooperation between Washington and New Delhi," the powerful American Jewish Committee told India's ambassador to the USNirupama Rao in a letter last week that it was "deeply troubled" by recent reports of India's efforts to intensify trade relations with Iran "at the very moment when the US and fellow democracies are applying new economic pressures to persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear programme".
The letter took particular exception to the announcement made by commerce secretary Rahul Khullar this week that "a huge delegation" of Indian business representatives would soon travel to Iran to capitalize on opportunities created by European withdrawal from the Iranian market.
"This suggests that New Delhi is attempting to take advantage of sanctions adopted by like-minded nations for the explicit purpose of preventing nuclear proliferation by a dangerously aggressive regime - and which could, in turn, trigger an escalating arms race - in a highly volatile region," the letter said. It expressed alarm and dismay at "this apparent move to elevate commercial interests over vital security concerns".
The letter was written before Monday's blast targetting Israeli embassy staff in Delhi, but after a three-day visit to Washington by India's foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, who during his trip tried to explain India's stand on continued trade with Iran to a skeptical US audience. The Iran question surfaced at almost every meeting Mathai had with US administration officials and lawmakers.
New Delhi's explanation that it is an energy starved country that has to perforce buy supplies from the most logical and economical source did not make much of an impression. Lawmakers pointed to Japan and South Korea as examples that had, in effect, toed the US line while administration mandarins offered to mitigate the situation by suggesting alternate supply possibilities. India's pledge that supplies from Iran were already down to less than 10% also did not impress players in Washington determined to collar Tehran.
For a change though, New Delhi did not employ its usual rhetoric of "civilizational ties" with Iran. Instead, Indian officials tried to explain to the Americans that peeling India off from Iran and isolating Tehran will make things more difficult for India and the US in Afghanistan. But the US is already playing footsie with the Taliban in its effort to extricate itself from Afghanistanmaking things very difficult for New Delhi.
Much of India's refining capacity is also premised on sourcing oil from Iran and shifting the supply to other sources brings its own logistical problems, one official explained. While serving officials have been circumspect in explaining India's constraints to the US, former diplomats have made no secret of their disdain for the US's conflicting policies in the region.
Maintaining that it has been "India's long-time friend and an advocate of increasingly close cooperation between Washington and New Delhi," the powerful American Jewish Committee told India's ambassador to the USNirupama Rao in a letter last week that it was "deeply troubled" by recent reports of India's efforts to intensify trade relations with Iran "at the very moment when the US and fellow democracies are applying new economic pressures to persuade Tehran to halt its nuclear programme".
The letter took particular exception to the announcement made by commerce secretary Rahul Khullar this week that "a huge delegation" of Indian business representatives would soon travel to Iran to capitalize on opportunities created by European withdrawal from the Iranian market.
"This suggests that New Delhi is attempting to take advantage of sanctions adopted by like-minded nations for the explicit purpose of preventing nuclear proliferation by a dangerously aggressive regime - and which could, in turn, trigger an escalating arms race - in a highly volatile region," the letter said. It expressed alarm and dismay at "this apparent move to elevate commercial interests over vital security concerns".
The letter was written before Monday's blast targetting Israeli embassy staff in Delhi, but after a three-day visit to Washington by India's foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, who during his trip tried to explain India's stand on continued trade with Iran to a skeptical US audience. The Iran question surfaced at almost every meeting Mathai had with US administration officials and lawmakers.
New Delhi's explanation that it is an energy starved country that has to perforce buy supplies from the most logical and economical source did not make much of an impression. Lawmakers pointed to Japan and South Korea as examples that had, in effect, toed the US line while administration mandarins offered to mitigate the situation by suggesting alternate supply possibilities. India's pledge that supplies from Iran were already down to less than 10% also did not impress players in Washington determined to collar Tehran.
For a change though, New Delhi did not employ its usual rhetoric of "civilizational ties" with Iran. Instead, Indian officials tried to explain to the Americans that peeling India off from Iran and isolating Tehran will make things more difficult for India and the US in Afghanistan. But the US is already playing footsie with the Taliban in its effort to extricate itself from Afghanistanmaking things very difficult for New Delhi.
Much of India's refining capacity is also premised on sourcing oil from Iran and shifting the supply to other sources brings its own logistical problems, one official explained. While serving officials have been circumspect in explaining India's constraints to the US, former diplomats have made no secret of their disdain for the US's conflicting policies in the region.
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