A series of car bombs rocked Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia in near-simultaneous strikes on Monday, wounding two people in New Delhi.
STORY: What In The?!? Syrian President Kills Woman & Children
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran, and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah of the attempted car bombings.
The Prime Minister told a gathering of lawmakers from his Likud Party:
“Today we witnessed two attempts of terrorism against innocent civilians, Iran is behind these attacks and it is the largest terror exporter in the world.”
There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks. But Netanyahu also said Israel had thwarted similar attacks in recent months in Azerbaijan and Thailand.
“In all those cases, the elements behind these attacks were Iran and its protégé Hezbollah,” he said, vowing to “act with a strong hand against international terror.”
According to the Associated Press, the explosion in India tore through a diplomat’s car, Israeli officials said. Indian officials said the driver and a diplomat’s wife were injured.
The explosion took place in the late afternoon close to the embassy, said embassy spokesman David Goldfarb. Television footage showed a charred minivan with blue diplomatic plates, its rear door apparently blown out.
Shota Utiashvili, spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry, said the driver noticed a package attached to his car’s undercarriage on Monday and called police.
Police found a grenade in the package and it was defused, Utiashvili said. He did not specify where the car was parked or say when the device was discovered.
There was no immediate comment from Iran or Hezbollah. But speculation will undoubtedly be raised over the possibility of Iranian-linked payback for assassinations on nuclear scientists and other covert plots that Tehran has blamed on Israel’s spy agency Mossad and Western allies.
