Bombers Target Israeli Embassy Staff In Georgia, India

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(RFE/RL) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Iran of being behind bomb plots targeting Israeli diplomatic staff in India and Georgia.

Netanyahu’s accusation came after Israel’s Foreign Ministry said a bomb tore through an Israeli Embassy vehicle in New Delhi on February 13.

Indian officials said the driver and a diplomat’s wife were injured.

In Georgia, the Interior Ministry said an explosive device was found under a car belonging to a staffer at the Israeli Embassy in Tbilisi.

The device was defused by security personnel.

Netanyahu said the incidents bear a resemblance to foiled attacks last month in Thailand and Azerbaijan that he blamed on Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hizballah.

Iran’s ambassador to New Delhi, Mehdi Nabizadeh, denied the accusations as “sheer lies.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the attacks on Israeli Embassy staff as “cowardly” and offered U.S. assistance in any investigation.
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The bomb plots come amid tensions between Israel and Iran over the Iranian nuclear program, which Israel fears is secretly aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

Reports say Israel has put its foreign missions on especially high alert in connection with the February 12 anniversary of the 2008 assassination of the military mastermind of Lebanon’s Shi’ite Islamist group Hizballah, Imad Moughniyeh.

The Israelis have also warned of possible reprisals ordered by Iran in connection with the assassinations of several scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear program.

RFE RL

RFE/RL journalists report the news in 21 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established.

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