Iran pulled the trigger

“Bombs target Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia; 2 injured

By Simon Denyer and Joel Greenberg, Updated: Monday, February 13, 9:34 AM

NEW DELHI –The wife of an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi and her driver were injured on Monday when the car they were traveling in was bombed, officials said. A second attempted bombing was defused outside the Israeli embassy in Tblisi, Georgia, at about the same time.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately blamed Iran, which has vowed revenge for the recent assassinations of several scientists involved in Iran’s controversial nuclear program. Hezbollah, which receives funding and strong support from Iran, also had promised to avenge the assassination of one of its leaders, Imad Moughniyeh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus on Feb. 12, 2008.

Ticking off a list of recent attempts around the globe to attack Israelis and Jews, all of which he said were successfully thwarted, Netanyahu called Iran “the greatest exporter of terror in the world.”

“In all these cases,” Netanyahu said, “the elements behind the attacks were Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah.”

Netanyahu offered no details of the recent attempted attacks or specific evidence for his claim. But Israel had put its foreign missions on high alert in recent days, because of the upcoming anniversary of Moughniyeh’s death.

Both the New Delhi attack and the discovery of the bomb in Tiblisi happened around the same time Monday morning, officials said.

New Delhi police commissioner Brajesh Kumar Gupta said a witness saw a motorcycle approach the embassy vehicle shortly before the attack and attach something to its rear side.

“A mild explosion soon took place and the car caught fire,” Gupta told reporters at a news conference. “The damage is because of the fire. It is clear a device was in the rear side.”

Israeli officials said the wife of Israel’s defense attache was inside the car. Gupta said she was conscious, and had been hospitalized in stable condition. Her driver, as well as the two people in a nearby car, sustained minor injuries, Gupta said.

Joji Philip Thomas, an editor with an Indian publication called The Economic Times, posted on Twitter that he was behind the car when the explosive device detonated. Thomas said he saw a female passenger thrown from the vehicle. He posted a photograph of the car in flames, its back blown out.

The area, not far from the Indian prime minister’s residence, was swiftly cordoned off, and Israeli officials could be seen conferring with local police.

In Tblisi, capital of the former Soviet republic of Georgia, a grenade was found attached to the car used by the Israeli ambassador, Yitzhak Gerberg, Real-TV reported.

The grenade was discovered after the ambassador’s driver, identified as Roman Khachaturyan, noticed an object attached to the bottom of the car with duct tape, the local news report said. Khachaturyan called police, who summoned explosive experts to detonate it under controlled conditions.

“There was one attempted attack, and one successful, as it were,” Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry, told the Reuters news agency.

In addition to concerns over the anniversary of the Hezbollah leader’s death, Israel had also warned of potential reprisals ordered by Tehran for the killings of multiple scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program.

No one has claimed responsibility for those killings, but Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a public letter of condolence, blamed the United States and Israel and said Iran would retaliate at some point.

“We will never disregard punishment for the individuals who committed this crime and the elements behind its scene,” Khamenei wrote.

The attack in New Delhi bore eerie similarities to the Jan. 11 killing of Iranian nuclear chemist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, a 32-year-old deputy head of procurement at the Natanz enrichment facility.

The scientist was killed in an explosion after an unknown assailant on a motorcycle slapped a magnetic bomb on his car as he commuted to work. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has categorically denied any United States involvement.

Greenberg reported from Jerusalem. Correspondents Thomas Erdbrink in Tehran and Kathy Lally in Moscow contributed to this report.”