Israeli car attack: Sleuths zero in on 2 motorcycles

Investigators probing the February 13 bomb explosion in a car carrying an Israeli embassy staffer are focusing on the antecedents of the owners of two abandoned motorcycles found in central and outer Delhi respectively, even as forensic laboratories are yet to confirm the use of high-intensity explosives in the device.

One of these motorcycles may have been used to stick the magnetic device onto the embassy staffer's vehicle. Out of the nine motorcycles earlier suspected, the agencies are verifying the antecedents of one found in Karol Bagh and another in Jehangirpuri.

Allegedly one of the motorcycles was sold to different owners within 20 days without the vehicle's being registered in the name of the new owners. The first owners have been traced, but the hunt is on for the third and fourth purchasers.

While security agencies are tight-lipped about the case, they believe that the bomb blast was linked to simultaneous attacks against Jewish targets in Tiblisi in Georgia and in Bangkok in Thailand. Israel has blamed Iran's secretive Quds Force for these attacks, but New Delhi is yet to nail the local perpetrators.

The Tiblisi device contained a C-4 plastic explosive with an external antenna used to trigger the device. The Bangkok attack was foiled as the device detonated while it was still with the Iranian bomber.

The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has confirmed the presence of inorganic radicals and alumina powder (used for incendiary purposes) in the Delhi device but has ruled out the presence of any high-intensity explosive like RDX, PETN or C-4.

The device was remotely triggered off, but no antennae were found in the debris. The agencies have asked the CFSL to reconfirm the presence of high-intensity explosives.