Krishna speaks his Israeli counterpart on car blast incident

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Feb 13, IRNA -- Hours within the blast occurred in an Israli embassy car here in which an Israeli diplomat was injured, External Affairs Minister S. M Krishna spoke to his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman, assuring him that law of the land will take its course.

'I just came to know about the unfortunate incident a little while earlier in which a staff member's family woman of the Israeli embassy establishment was injured. She has been rushed into the hospital. We are awaiting further information about the well being of the woman,' Krishna told reporters on the sidelines of a function.

Asserting that the country very strongly condemns such incidents, Krishna said it will be fully investigated and the culprits will be brought to justice.

'I just spoke to the Israeli foreign minister and reassured that the law of the land will take its course. We will continue with the investigations and keep him posted about the progress of the investigation,' he said.

In a coordinated terror attack, an Israeli Embassy car exploded today when a magnetic bomb stuck to it went off in a high security area here, critically injuring a woman diplomat.

Tal Yehoshua (40), wife of Israeli Defence Attache, who is also working in the Embassy and an Indian driver of the vehicle, was among the four people injured in the blast. She is said to be in critical condition and has underwent a surgery with doctors saying she was stable.

The blast occured at 15:15 hours IST (Indian Standard Time) at a busy traffic intersection on Aurangazeb Road not far away from the mission and the Prime Minister's Race Course residence after an unidentified motorcyclist stuck a magnetic device to the rear of the Toyota Innova vehicle.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commissioner B. K. Gupta did not want to hazard a guess on whether it was a terror attack and maintained it was definitely a device targeting the Embassy Toyota Innova vehicle, pti reported. Gupta said the woman diplomat was on her way to pick her two children from American Embassy School when the incident took place. She was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the private Primus Hospital in the diplomatic enclave.

Yehoshua suffered injuries on her back while the others had superficial injuries on their faces.

According to the version provided by one of the eye-witnesses who was injured, Gupta said a motorcyclist stuck something on the rear of the the car and after which the vehicle caught fire.

Meanwhile, in the wake of a suspected terror attack targeting an Israeli embassy car here, the Centre today ordered tightening of security in diplomatic missions, located across the country.

Security establishments in New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore have been alerted by the Centre and directed to beef up arrangements in diplomatic mission premises located in these cities to foil any attempt to target them.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30816149