New Delhi: A low-intensity explosion occurred near Israel embassy in New Delhi on Friday evening. Coincidentally, today marks the 29th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.
The explosion took place not far away from Vijay Chowk where several VVIP’s including President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior officials were in attendance during the ‘Beating retreat ceremony’.
Former ambassador JK Tripathi told ETV Bharat that whosoever is behind the attack will be revealed after the investigation, but one thing is sure that the incident is very much calculated and planned one.
“The culprits took advantage of the fact that the entire Delhi police would be busy handling the farmer’s agitation. Perhaps, my view is that behind the incident must be some Palestinian group, because Palestine is the only country and Al-Qaeda or ISIS are the only outfits, who would be benefitted by this. There won’t be any state force like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or any other Muslim state, which would have sponsored the attack".
Tripathi suspected that it must be either a non –state outfit which has done it or the Hamas which is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist but pragmatic, militant and nationalist organization.
“They are the only people who are cornered because they were seeking for support of the entire Muslim world but it didn’t happen”, he added.
“My take on this is that it is also not Iran who is behind the attack because Iranians at this juncture won’t do it in India. As India-Iran relations are good, Iranians will not dare to do it”, he stated.
He said that there is every possibility that any political or terrorist group would have certainly done it to destabilize the situation.
READ: Low intensity blast outside Israeli embassy in Delhi
From the security point of view, Tripathi underlined that the three agreements including the BECA (Basic Exchange and cooperation) that has been signed between India and the United States should be operationalised.
“It is high time to operationalise security arrangement so that such an incident is not repeated”, the former ambassador added.
According to reports, no injuries have been reported in the incident so far and further investigation is underway. Delhi police cell rushed to the spot to investigate the matter. A report suggests the blast occurred near pavement and windscreens of several cars parked in the vicinity of the embassy were found damaged.
This is not just one terror attack against Israel but in the year 2012, a motorcyclist attached a sticky bomb to the car of the wife of the Israeli defence attached to India while she was on her way to pick up her children from school. The woman, Tal Yehoshua Koren, sustained moderate injuries that required surgery.
Currently, security has been tightened around the Israel embassy in New Delhi. Reuters quoting an Israeli official reported that Israel is treating a small bomb blast near the Israeli embassy in Delhi today as a 'terrorist incident'.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi about the explosion outside the Israeli embassy and assured him fullest protection for the embassy and Israeli diplomats.
“Spoke just now to Israeli FM Gabi Ashkenazi about the explosion outside the Israeli embassy. Assured him of the fullest protection for the embassy and Israeli diplomats. The matter is under investigation and no effort will be spared to find the culprits”, Jaishankar said in a tweet.
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Spoke just now to Israeli FM @Gabi_Ashkenazi about the explosion outside the Israeli Embassy. We take this very seriously. Assured him of the fullest protection for the Embassy and Israeli diplomats. Matter is under investigation and no effort will be spared to find the culprits.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 29, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">Spoke just now to Israeli FM @Gabi_Ashkenazi about the explosion outside the Israeli Embassy. We take this very seriously. Assured him of the fullest protection for the Embassy and Israeli diplomats. Matter is under investigation and no effort will be spared to find the culprits.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 29, 2021Spoke just now to Israeli FM @Gabi_Ashkenazi about the explosion outside the Israeli Embassy. We take this very seriously. Assured him of the fullest protection for the Embassy and Israeli diplomats. Matter is under investigation and no effort will be spared to find the culprits.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) January 29, 2021
