Indian home minister comments after bombers target Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia
(14 Feb 2012) 1. Various of car damaged in the bomb attack on Monday, in the yard of a police station near the blast site, covered with blue tarpaulin 2. Wide of Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram walking towards reporters and cameras 3. Wide of security officer 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indian Home minister: "We think it happened within about four to five seconds of the device being attached. So it is quite clear that a very well trained person has committed this attack. There is also reason to believe that the target was the Israeli diplomat's wife and therefore, one has to proceed on the basis that it was a terrorist attack." 5. Cutaway signboard reading: (English) "Ministry of Home affairs" 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indian Home Minister: "We condemn this incident. At the moment I am not pointing a finger at any particular group or any particular organisation. But whoever did it, we condemn it in the strongest terms." 7. Wide of briefing 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Palaniappan Chidambaram, Indian Home Minister: "And we have assured them (the Israeli government) that the investigation will proceed until we find the perpetrator of this attack. As far as the medical condition is concerned, the commissioner of police told me that the condition of the lady is stable. She has suffered a splinter injury near the spine and some other injuries. The other three of course are completely out of danger." 9. Various of police barricades and security on streets as part of a security alert STORYLINE: Indian investigators were searching on Tuesday for the motorcycle assailant who attached a bomb to an Israeli diplomatic car in the heart of New Delhi in an attack the Jewish state blamed on Iran or its proxies. Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said the strike appeared to be an attack carried out by a "very well-trained person". "There is also reason to believe that the target was the Israeli diplomat's wife and therefore, one has to proceed on the basis that it was a terrorist attack," he told reporters in New Delhi. The attack took place just after 3 p.m. (0930 GMT) Monday, when Tal Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of a Defence Ministry official based in New Delhi, was heading to the American Embassy School to pick up her children, police said. A single person on a motorcycle rode up behind her minivan as it was stopped at a red light and attached a bomb to the rear door, Chidambaram said. The motorcycle then sped off and the bomb blew up four or five seconds later. The driver of the van and two people in a nearby car suffered minor injuries. Yehoshua-Koren underwent surgery to remove shrapnel from near her spine and was in critical, but stable condition Tuesday morning, according to doctors. Israel has blamed Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah for the attack and a similar, but failed strike in Georgia, which have ratcheted already heightened tensions between Tehran and the Jewish state. Iran is a strong Indian ally and a steady oil supplier to the energy-starved country. Iran has denied responsibility for the attack, as well as the foiled bombing in Georgia, which appeared to mirror the recent killings of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran blamed on Israel. Israel sent forensic scientists from its police force to New Delhi to search for clues as to who carried out the attacks, an Israeli government official said. The embassy declined to provide details of the investigation. After Monday's attack, security was tightened at embassies across the capital. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
