‘We are working together with India to probe blast’

Israel and India are working in a "very good and constructive way" to probe the terror attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi on Monday, Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry, told HT via a long-distance press conference from Jerusalem.

Israel and India are working in a "very good and constructive way" to probe the terror attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi on Monday, Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign ministry, told HT via a long-distance press conference from Jerusalem.

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“Israel and India are celebrating 20 years of bilateral relations in 2012. There has been a very good and constructive cooperation in the investigations,” Hirschson said.

Bombs targeted Israel embassy officials in Delhi and the capital Georgia Tbilisi on Monday, which Israeli leaders quickly blamed on Iran.

In Delhi, a device destroyed an Israeli diplomatic car, while another one planted on an Israeli diplomat's vehicle in Tbilisi was defused.

Asked if there was specific information about the involvement of Iran in the Delhi attack, David Goldfarb, the spokesperson of Israeli's Delhi embassy, said: “We are not commenting on intelligence inputs. But we confirm this is the handiwork of Iran and Hezbollah.” Iran's embassy in Delhi denied the charge.

Israel’s accusation of Iran is the first such instance of a terror attack in India being blamed on Iran, confounding security agencies who have so far seen terrorist incidents in the past few years as emanating either Pakistan or home-grown groups.