Day after MHA Nod, NIA Begins Probe into Blast Near Israeli Embassy in Delhi

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has begun its probe into a blast near the Israeli Embassy here by re-registering the case filed by the Delhi Police, officials said on Wednesday. The Home Ministry on Tuesday gave its nod to the anti-terror probe agency to carry out a detailed investigation into the explosion that took place on January 29 near the embassy located in the heart of Lutyens' Delhi. No one was injured.

Some cars were damaged in the explosion that occurred about 150 metres away from the embassy on the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in the very high-security bungalow zone. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was fabricated with cocktail of ammonium nitrate-fuel oil having cycle ball bearings as shrapnel. A letter was also received by the embassy which was shared with the police and now is part of the NIA investigation.

Cyber footprints before and after the blast have indicated that some individual claiming to be part of a little known terror group claimed responsibility for the attack. The trail of Internet Protocol address was indicative of a southern city of Afghanistan, sharing borders with Iran, but the investigators believed that it could be to mislead the probe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to convey his strong condemnation of the terror attack and asserted that India will deploy all its resources to find and punish the perpetrators. Both leaders, the PMO said, had expressed satisfaction about the close coordination between Indian and Israeli security agencies in connection with the blast probe.

The Israeli foreign ministry said all its diplomats and embassy staff in Delhi are "safe and sound". Since 2012, when wife of Israel's defence attache to India was injured after a motorcyclist attached a bomb to her car, the diplomats of the Jewish nation have been given higher security besides other benefits for their protection.

The Interpol had also issued a Red Corner notices against four Iranian nationals Houshang Afshar Irani, Syed Ali Mahdiansadr, Mohammadreza Abolghasemi and Masoud Sedaghatzadeh. An Interpol Red Corner notice is the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant. It requests provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extraditing them. The four still continue to be on the wanted list of Interpol.

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