Iranian link to Delhi car blast established

NEW DELHI: The Iranian link to the recent blast in an Israel embassy car here unraveled on Wednesday with the Delhi Police arresting an Indian freelance journalist allegedly working for Iranian media outlets. The police have charged the accused, Syed Mohammed Kazmi, with helping the bomber conduct reconnaissance of the Israeli embassy several times and keeping tabs on the movement of Israeli diplomats.

Though the Delhi Police did not name any specific country while producing Kazmi before the chief metropolitan magistrate here, they confirmed that the February 13 bomb blast, in which Israeli diplomat Tal Yehoshua and three others were injured, was a case of "international terrorism."

"He (Kazmi) is one of the conspirators of this wider conspiracy. This is a case of international terrorism. It is not necessary that only Indians are involved and there is a possibility that some foreign nationals might also be involved in the case," public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told the court. He added that the conspiracy for the car blast, triggered by a magnet bomb, was hatched outside India.

Seeking 20 days police remand for Kazmi, Mohan said an IED, purportedly a magnet bomb, was used for the explosion and everything done in a well-planned manner. The court later remanded Kazmi to 20 days' police custody.

Kazmi was picked up from his Jor Bagh residence here on Tuesday night and arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly extending help to the terrorist who stuck the magnet bomb on the Israeli diplomat's car of Israeli diplomat. His arrest came after investigators picked up leads that he had been in touch with the alleged bomber. A search was also carried out at his native place in Meerut.

Soon after the blast, Israel had described the blast as a handiwork of Iran or its protégé Hezbollah. Israel has been at loggerheads with Iran over its nuclear programme, and its secret service, Mossad, is suspected to have eliminated many Iranian nuclear scientists in similar magnet bomb attacks.

Police commissioner BK Gupta said the arrest of two or three more suspects was likely in the coming days. While Gupta refused to give any further details other than seizing a mobile phone and a laptop from Kazmi's possession, the freelance journalist is said to be running a feature news agency, "Media Star", besides being a part-time worker with an Iranian broadcaster and also a columnist for Persian newspapers in Iran.

He was also employed as a contractual news reader for Urdu with Doordarshan. Besides having been a visitor to Israeli embassy, he is said to have covered the Iraq war for a private production house. Kazmi was also working with many private news channels as an interpreter and had travelled to war-ravaged Afghanistan many a times with scribes of other organisation as an interpreter.