India’s central counter-terrorism agencies concluded that an Iranian unit was behind a recent terror attack launched near the Israeli Embassy in Delhi.
By TPS
The bomb that went off outside the Israeli embassy in Delhi in late January was plotted and guided by Iran, Indian media outlets reported Monday.
The blast on January 29 caused no casualties and no harm was caused to the embassy’s building. The explosive charge caused damage to several cars on the street.
India’s central counterterrorism agencies’ investigations have led them to the conclusion that the Quds force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) foreign operations unit, was behind the terror attack.
Investigators have found that the Improvised Explosive Device (IED), initially thought to be a crude device, was planted by a local Shia terror cell using a remote and using the pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) or ammonium nitrate (AFNO) explosive materials.
India’s security agencies exposed what they described as deliberate false-flag cyber markers left by the bombers pointing to the Islamic State’s (ISIS) alleged involvement, but the counterterror agencies are certain that the blast was part of “the asymmetric warfare campaign” being carried out by the IRGC against Israel.
The bomb was not powerful and was not intended to cause human losses, “perhaps because the Iranians did not want to run afoul of a friendly nation like India. But the message was clear and the threat is real,” a counterterror expert is quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.
The Mossad is in the loop.
A security camera near the embassy recorded two people getting out of a taxi near the place where the explosive was planted. The taxi driver was located and testified and was able to provide the police with a sketch of the two suspects.
An Israeli intelligence source is quoted as saying that the attack “was intended for us for sure, there is probably a connection and direction from Iran.”
Israel Foreign Minister Gazbi Ashkenazi stated Sunday that “in recent days, we have witnessed an increase in Iranian efforts to undermine regional security and stability. Iran’s fingerprints are clearly identifiable in recent attempts on Israeli targets around the world.”
Iran has previously targeted Israel’s diplomatic mission in India. On February 13, 2012, three members of the Qods forces targeted Tal Yehoshua Koren, the wife of the Israeli Defense Attaché, with a magnetic bomb attached to her car while she was on her way to pick up her children from school.
Yehoshua Koren sustained moderate injuries that required surgery to remove shrapnel while her Indian driver and two bystanders suffered minor injuries.