Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Tuesday termed the attack on a Israeli diplomat as a terror strike and said a well-trained person orchestrated the crime.
Condemning the incident, Mr. Chidambaram said diplomats of every country were entitled to live and work in India in peace and security.
“It is quite clear that a very well-trained person has committed this attack. There is 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 here.
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The Home Minister was speaking for the first time on the terror attack on Monday in which an Israeli embassy car was targeted with a magnetic bomb.
Mr. Chidambaram said the Delhi Police Commissioner and the officer concerned (leading the probe) briefed him this morning about the incident.
The Home Minister said investigation was on and it appeared that a motorcycle rider — single person — came from behind when the Innova car was stopped at a junction because the traffic signal light was red.
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He said the assailant attached the device at the rear door of the car, the trunk area of the vehicle on the right side, and zipped past it presumably turning either left on Safdurjung Road or proceeding straight on Kamal Attaturk Marg.
Mr. Chidambaram said CCTV cameras located in the vicinity were being scanned and the investigators have got some images but so far there has been no clear image of any motorcycle or the number plate of the two-wheeler.
Special teams have been deployed to locate the motorcycle and identify the person who drove it, he said.
“We condemn the incident and, 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,” he said.