A bomb blast that badly wounded an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi was a terrorist attack by a highly-trained operative, the Indian government said Tuesday, as Israel accused Iran of being responsible. The injured female diplomat was described by doctors as stable following overnight surgery to remove shrapnel from her spine after the attack, in which a motorcyclist planted a suspected magnetic bomb on her car. “The explosion according to eyewitnesses happened within seconds of the device being planted,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in Delhi. “It is quite clear that a very well-trained person carried out this attack.” “One has to progress on the basis that it was a terrorist attack,” he said, adding “we are not pointing our finger at any group or organisation.” In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned Monday’s attack in India and an attempted bombing in Georgia in the “strongest possible terms” but the White House reserved judgment on who was responsible. Israel said it was in no doubt about whom to blame after the embassy car in New Delhi exploded in a ball of flames, while police defused an explosive fixed to another Israeli embassy vehicle in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
