Blast near Israel embassy in Delhi, cops probing terror angle

NEW DELHI: A low-intensity blast took place near the

Israel embassy

in New Delhi around 5pm on Friday, coinciding with the anniversary of India and Israel establishing full diplomatic relations on January 29, 1992. No one was injured, but window panes of three cars were damaged.


The explosion occurred barely 2km away from the Beating Retreat ceremony.

With Israeli officials treating it as a suspected terror attack, Delhi Police handed over the probe to anti-terror unit. Mossad is assisting Indian agencies in the investigation. An FIR under the Explosives Act has been registered.

An envelope with “Israeli ambassador” written on it was found at the spot.

Close eye on passengers set to fly out of India

Though a forensic report is awaited on the kind of explosive used in the blast, an anti-terror squad officer told TOI that there were reasons to believe that ammonium nitrate was used. The CCTV footage around the spot and adjoining areas is being scanned.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the bomb might have been wrapped in a plastic/polythene and thrown towards the footpath from a moving car, probably a bike. The bomb fell on the grass and exploded, leading to chaos and panic.

Sleuths of the Delhi Police Special Cell and intelligence agencies, accompanied by bomb disposal and sniffer dog squads, rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The police said the bomb could have been a crude Improvise Explosive Device (IED).

Immigration and airport officials were alerted to keep an eye on all international passengers scheduled to fly out in the next 48-72 hours.

“The suspects may have carried out a recce. So we are scanning CCTV footage of the last couple of days. All nearby hotels are being checked too,” a senior officer said.

A blast had taken place on February 13, 2012 when the wife of an Israeli diplomat was targeted on Aurangzeb Road by a bike-borne man. The bomber had taken a flight out of the country the same night. Israel had blamed Iran for the attack and probe by Indian agencies had also found the role of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. A Delhibased journalist was arrested on charges of being a part of the conspiracy.

CISF units at Metro, airports and govt buildings on alert: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards civil airports, vital nuclear and aerospace installations, Delhi Metro and central government buildings, has put on alert all its units across the country after a minor blast outside the Israeli Embassy in the capital on Friday evening, official sources said.

The paramilitary force has directed its personnel to enhance vigil at the 63 civil airports and Delhi Metro under its cover, besides vital installations in the nuclear and aerospace domain.

The CISF units that guard various government buildings in the national capital have been asked to maintain a “high level of alert”, they said.


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