Probe Agency NIA To Investigate Blast Near Israel Embassy: Sources

The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is set to probe the blast that took place on Friday near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi, sources have said. The "very low-intensity" improvised explosive device (IED) detonation did not injure anyone but shattered the windscreens of some cars, according to the police.

The Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory has been roped in to examine the explosives used in the blast. The kind of explosives used will give a clue for the investigators about the perpetrators of this attack, sources said.

Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, is working with Indian authorities in investigating the case, sources have said.

The blast took place 1.4 kilometres from Vijay Chowk, where President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and other senior members of the government had gathered amid extremely heavy security for the Beating Retreat ceremony that follows the annual Republic Day parade.

The explosive, according to an initial probe, had ball bearings as part of the IED's makeup. It had been wrapped up in a plastic bag and left near a tree on the pavement outside a nearby building that is just metres away from the embassy.

The Delhi police Special Cell's initial investigating suggested that the aim of the blast was to send out a message to Israel on Iran, sources had said. A letter recovered on Friday, addressed to Israeli Ambassador Ron Malka, and with the word "trailer" written on it, is being probed. The letter, found some 12 metres from the blast site, mentions the killing of top Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani and Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh last year.

Yesterday, Delhi Police sources said the blast could be a "trial run", a prelude to a larger attack.

Following the recovery of the letter and reports that Israel suspects the hand of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard in this attack, the police have asked the Foreigners Regional Registration Office to provide details of Iranian visitors to Delhi in the past few weeks.

Even before the blast, the embassy was on high alert because of "threats" it had received, ambassador Malka has, meanwhile, said, adding that he "was not surprised" by the explosion.

On January 23, an alert was sounded by intelligence agencies about an attack on Jews in India.

Besides the IED fragments and the letter, authorities are also scouring CCTV footage from surrounding areas. However, this is turning out to be a challenge since some of the cameras placed in the vicinity, including one on a tree near the blast site, were malfunctioning.

This was the second blast to take place with the Israel embassy as a suspected target. The first was in February 2012, when a bike-borne attacker planted a "sticky bomb" on an embassy vehicle at a traffic junction. That explosion took place just 300 metres from the Prime Minister's residence. Four people, including the wife of an Israeli diplomat, were injured.

Friday's blast, even though a minor one, took place amid tightened security in the national capital in the wake of the Republic Day celebrations.

Meanwhile, India has assured "full protection" for Israeli diplomats. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too, expressed "full confidence" in New Delhi's probe into the blast. Ambassador Malka had earlier said that the explosion happened "on the 29th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries".