BBC News
February 13, 2012 - 1:00am
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17013987


Bombers have targeted staff at Israeli embassies in India and Georgia, officials say, with Israel accusing Iran of masterminding the attacks.

An explosion in Delhi injured one diplomat and three other people. Witnesses told local TV a motorcyclist had placed a device on the embassy's car when it stopped in traffic.

A bomb underneath a diplomat's car in Tbilisi was found and defused.

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was behind the two incidents.

"Today we witnessed two attempts of terrorism against innocent civilians," he told a meeting of his Likud party MPs.

"Iran is behind these attacks and it is the largest terror exporter in the world."

He also blamed Iran for recent plots to attack Israeli targets in Thailand and Azerbaijan that were prevented.

And he suggested that the militant Islamist Hezbollah movement was also involved.

Israel's foreign ministry said that Israel had the ability to track down those who carried out the attacks.

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, in Jerusalem, says security at Israeli embassies has been tightened in recent months following warnings of potential attacks, after Iran accused Israel of a series of attacks on its nuclear scientists.
Bomb squad

After the explosion in Delhi, Indian TV showed pictures of a burning car near the embassy. In later images, the fire was extinguished and the car could be seen burnt out.

The area around the vehicle was cordoned off and forensic experts and the bomb squad were examining the remains.

The embassy is guarded by several layers of security and is in a well-defended area of central Delhi, close to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence.

David Goldfarb, the spokesman for Israel's Delhi embassy, said the diplomat's car was close to the building on Aurangzeb Road when the explosion went off.

He said they had no details as to who was behind the attack.

Officials in Georgia said an explosive device was attached to the bottom of a diplomat's car in the capital, Tbilisi, but was found and defused before it detonated.




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