Israel’s Ambassador to India Ron Malka on Saturday said there were enough reasons to believe that the blast outside the country’s embassy in Delhi was a terrorist attack, PTI reported. He, however, said that the incident was not surprising as they were on alert for the past few weeks following intelligence agency inputs.
On Friday, a minor blast took place near the Israel embassy at Central Delhi’s APJ Abdul Kalam Road. No injuries or damage to personal properties were reported, except shattered windscreens of cars parked nearby.
In an interview with the news agency, Malka said that they were looking into all possible angles, including whether the incident had any links with the 2012 attack on Israeli diplomats in the national Capital as well as other events around the world to find any related operations or activities.
Malka told ANI that there could be connections between Friday’s blast and the 2012 attack. “In 2012, there was a terror attack on Israeli diplomats in Delhi not far from the Embassy,” he said. “It might be connected, there might be a pattern. We are investigating and this is one of the options.”
The ambassador said that Israeli authorities and the embassy were lending all assistance and providing information to Indian authorities investigating the incident.
“These attacks by those seeking destabilisation in the [West Asia] region cannot stop us or scare us,” Malka said when asked if the attack was aimed at derailing Israel’s peace efforts with various Arab countries. “Our peace efforts will continue uninterrupted.”
The ambassador also said that they were assured that India will ensure the safety of the mission and diplomats, according to India Today. “Yesterday was the 29th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries so the attack might not be a coincident,” he added. “There might be a connection.”
The blast took place less than two kilometres from Vijaya Chowk, where President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior members of the government were present for the Beating Retreat ceremony.
Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava visited the site to examine the situation. The police’s bomb disposal squad carried out searches at the blast site to ascertain if there were more explosives in the area.
An official said that forensic experts too examined the blast site. Samples of dust and grass were collected from the nearby area.
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