Phone calls made to Israel, Iran, Lebanon being examined

Investigators Wednesday started examining records of 115 phone calls made to Iran, Israel and Lebanon from here for clues in the Monday bomb attack on an Israeli embassy vehicle in the heart of the capital, sources said.

The sources said that the calls were made to these countries in the 15 days before an unidentified motorcyclist attached an improvised explosive magnetic device to the embassy car injuring four people, including the wife of a diplomat.

The analysis of these calls was being done in search of clues about the mysterious terror plot blamed by Israel on Iran.

The sources said there was no evidence yet to suggest that the attack was plotted in Iran or had any Iranian connection.

Delhi Police were still hunting for the motorcyclist who attached the magnetic device to the Israeli embassy vehicle on Aurangzeb Road Monday afternoon.

An official said they had found an abandoned red motorcycle, with registration number DL 7S T 8352, from south Delhi’s Lado Sarai area. They were still inquiring if it was the same bike used in planting the magnetic bomb.

“We are yet to confirm whether the bike was used in the blast,” an official said, adding that forensic experts were examining the finger prints on the bike.

Police said they had traced the original owner of the bike who was identified as Rajeev Maggo. Maggo sold the bike in 2008 to Abhishek Shoukin. The vehicle was later owned by two more people who are yet to be identified.

Shortly after the blast, police detained five people owning red motorcycles. They were let off after questioning.

A nine-member Israeli forensic expert team examined the cars damaged in the bombing.

Police officials said the team visited the office of Special Cell, Delhi Police’s anti-terror unit, in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony and inspected the targetted vehicle in which Tal Yehoshua-Koren, the wife of Israeli defence attache, was travelling at the time of the blast.

Her driver and two more persons, travelling in another car, were also injured in the explosion. The Israeli team also inspected the second car which too was damaged in the blast.

The Israeli team that arrived in Delhi Wednesday afternoon carried with them samples of the explosive used in the botched terror attack in Tbilisi, Georgia Monday and Tuesday’s three blasts in Bangkok — also blamed on Iran.

They wanted to check whether there were any similarities in the explosive substance used in all the incidents, police officials said.

Delhi Police and Israeli authorities will discuss the modus operandi used in the three attacks, a Special Cell police official told IANS.

“We will check whether the same explosives were used in Monday’s blast,” he said.

An attack was foiled in Tbilisi when an alert Israeli embassy staffer noticed a bomb under his car Monday, the same day when terror hit the Indian capital.

On Tuesday, there were three blasts in Bangkok and an Iranian who allegedly hurled one of the bombs was among those injured.