Israeli missions in India, Georgia targeted
Blast takes out Israeli diplomatic vehicle near New Delhi embassy; envoy's wife, driver wounded. Explosive device neutralized near Israeli mission in Tbilisi
An explosion tore through an Israeli diplomat's car in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi, India, Monday.
The wife of an Israeli Defense Ministry representative suffered light to moderate wounds in the terror attack.
Israeli Embassy Spokesman David Goldfarb confirmed that an explosion took out a diplomat's car. The injured woman was identified as Tal Yehoshua Koren, the wife of a diplomat stationed with the Defense Ministry's mission in India.
An initial probe into the attack revealed that the envoy's wife left the embassy with her driver after a day of work at the mission in order to pick up her children from school. The explosion took place a short while before she arrived at the school, apparently after a bomb was attached to the vehicle.
Koren managed to call the embassy and report that "the vehicle exploded," before being evacuated to a local hospital in a rickshaw. Officials said she suffered shrapnel wounds to her lower body. The driver of the vehicle was also hurt in the blast.
Indian media outlets reported that two bikers were tailing the car driven by the Israeli diplomat's wife in New Delhi and that at one point one of them "hurled something at the car," which exploded shortly after.
The blast came just one day after the fourth anniversary marking the assassination of Hezbollah arch-terrorist Imad Mugniyah.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Palmor said that the ministry was "looking into the incident and cooperation with local security forces is excellent."
Indian police initially said that a car was on fire on the street outside the embassy. Television footage showed a charred minivan with blue diplomatic plates, its rear door apparently blown out.
Georgia attack averted
Meanwhile, explosives were also found near the Israeli Embassy building in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. The device was neutralized safely.
Israeli Ambassador to Georgia Yitzhak Gerber told Ynet that "We don't have all the details yet. The local authorities are looking into it, but so far it doesn’t look too dramatic.
"From what we know now, there was an attempt to place an explosive device on a car belonging to one of our local employees. He noticed it while he was on his way to us, and alerted the authorities. The device was defused."
Gerber added that "these kinds of things are part of the job. It's very unpleasant, but it's always in the back of our mind. Considering that yesterday was the day we bid farewell to Imad Mugniyah this was to be expected."
Shota Uitashvili, 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.
Israel placed its foreign missions on high alert ahead of the Feb. 12 anniversary of the assassination. The Foreign Ministry said that its missions worldwide were been briefed on the events.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was briefed of the events immediately. "Israeli diplomats are on the front lines," he said adding that Israel "knows how to identity who is responsible for the blast."
Following the attack in India and the attempted attack in Georgia, Israeli diplomats have been advised against travelling in cars in the immediate future.
The incident followed reports by Azeri media, which suggested that the Israeli ambassador in Baku was the target of a terror plot.
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