By Harmeet Shah Singh
“On the basis of thorough and carefully undertaken investigations, three Iranians have been identified by the investigating authorities as suspects in the terrorist attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi on February 13, 2012,” Syed Akbaruddin, India’s external affairs spokesman, said in a statement.
Akbaruddin, however, added that the probe into the car assault remained under way and that “no conclusions can be drawn at this stage.”
“We have informed the Iranian ambassador of these developments so as to seek the cooperation of the Iranian authorities in bringing those involved in this dastardly attack to justice,” he said.
Iran vs. Israel around the world
The statement did not name the suspects.
But a senior Indian investigator, who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity Thursday, identified them as Houshan Afshar, Syed Ali Mehdi Sadr and Mohammad Reza Abolghasemi.
The spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in New Delhi, Hassan Rahimi Majd, did not respond to CNN’s calls for a comment Thursday.
Syed Mohammad Kazmi, an Indian freelance journalist working for an Iranian news outlet, was arrested last week in connection with the February 13 bombing, which left several people wounded.
In a separate incident on February 13, another device was found on an Israeli embassy car in Tbilisi, Georgia, and safely detonated.
A day later, a series of bombs disguised as radios detonated in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Bangkok blasts did not kill anyone, and their intended targets were not clear, although authorities have said they were intended for Israeli diplomats. The devices used explosive materials that are not available in Thailand and were likely smuggled in, police said.
