Security upped in Delhi areas with Jewish presence and markets

NEW DELHI: The city has been placed on high alert following an explosion near the Israel embassy on Tuesday evening. Delhi Police said security has been stepped up in areas with Jewish population, besides markets and other vital installations.

“There is also an apprehension that miscreants may target Chabad houses, Jewish community centres and other important Jewish establishments in Delhi. Keeping in view the present scenario, adequate arrangements are being made,” an official said, adding the security of Israeli diplomats, staff and tourists was being reviewed.

Officials said the special cell was working in close coordination with the intelligence agencies and all inputs were being taken seriously. Security around all embassies has been beefed up.

“We have boosted the presence of uniformed officers at major gatherings and cultural sites to prioritise public safety, exercising an abundance of caution. We have advised religious centres to restrict access to their premises, ensure the functionality of security cameras and alarms, conduct perimeter sweeps and screen mail and packages,” an official from the intelligence establishment said.

Cops are more cautious because of previous incidents in 2012 and 2021, wherein Israel’s embassy and its diplomat were targeted in Delhi.

On January 29, 2021, a low-intensity blast outside the Israeli embassy on APJ Abdul Kalam Road had sent shockwaves through the security apparatus as it took place during the Beating Retreat ceremony on Kartavya Path. The incident is still unsolved.

A clue was given by a cabbie who said he had dropped off two “suspicious looking” people near the embassy around the time of the blast. The Delhi Police special cell had subsequently detained four youths from Thang village in Ladakh’s Kargil district but their involvement could not be ascertained conclusively. Results of their psychoanalysis tests found they were telling “partial truth”, which meant they were present near the spot. A CCTV footage trail had led the cops to Jamia Nagar, but that too gave no results.

Cops had also recovered a letter addressed to the Israeli ambassador, which said the explosion was just a “trailer” and referred to Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani and nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as “martyrs”. Both Iranians were killed in two separate incidents two years ago.

In the blast on February 13, 2012, a bike-borne assailant, later identified as Hoshang Afsar Irani, planted a ‘magnetic stick IED’ on an Israeli diplomat’s vehicle in Chanakyapuri. Tal Yehoshua Koren, wife of the Israeli defence attaché and an embassy staffer, was seriously injured in the blast. She was on the way to pick up her children from school.

The bomber, Irani, had visited India months between April and May 2011 for groundwork. He returned in January 2012, carried out the attack on February 13 and took a flight out of the country the same day. He was staying in room number 305 of hotel High 5 Land in Karol Bagh. Forensic officials found traces of material used in making the stick IED in the ceiling of the room.


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