India confident it will crack Israel car bomb plot

NEW DELHI // India said it was confident of identifying the culprits behind an attack on an Israeli diplomat earlier this month which was blamed by Israel on Iran.

"The Delhi Police which is in charge of the investigation is working with other agencies and they are confident that they will be able to crack the case," P Chidambaram, the home minister, told a news conference.

A 42-year-old Israeli diplomat, the wife of the defence attache at the embassy, was critically injured in the February 13 attack when a motorcyclist attached a bomb to the back of her vehicle in central New Delhi.

"I have been briefed that the investigation is progressing in the right direction [and] some good intelligence has been gathered," the home minister added.

He declined to answer questions on whether the hitman was suspected to be of Iranian origin.

Israel has accused Iran of carrying out the car bombing which came on the same day as another attempted attack on an Israeli embassy car in Georgia.

A day later, Thai police arrested two Iranian men in Bangkok who are suspected of planning an attack on Israeli diplomats.

Tehran has denied any involvement in the alleged plots.