Thailand questions more Iranians in bomb plot
Three are questioned in addition to Iranians already being held over plot to attack Israeli diplomats in Bangkok.
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| Thai police are already holding Mohammad Kharzei and two other suspects over the bomb plot [AFP] |
Police in Thailand say they are questioning three additional Iranians in connection with an alleged plot to attack Israeli diplomats that was foiled earlier this month after an apparently accidental explosion.
The three are suspected of having “links to the blasts,” police Major General Piya Utayo told the AFP news agency on Monday.
No charges have been filed against them, he said, though one was detained for overstaying his visa.
Mobile telephone logs show that one of the Iranians under questioning had been in regular contact with two of the three Iranians who had been arrested in connection with the plot, Thai media reported.
Two Iranians were arrested in Thailand on February 14 after an explosion at a house they were renting. One of the men blew off his legs as he tried to throw an explosive at police while fleeing, Thai media said. A third man was arrested in Malaysia, and Thai authorities have issued arrest warrants for two other Iranians who have fled the country.
Israeli targets
The dramatic end to the alleged bomb conspiracy came the same day as a bomb targeted the Israeli embassy in India and another explosive was defused in Georgia.
In New Delhi, a magnetic mine attached to an Israeli diplomatic car by a motorcylist exploded, badly injuring four people, including the 42-year-old wife of Israel’s defence attache in the city.
In Tbilisi, the driver of an Israeli diplomatic car found a grenade attached to the undercarriage, which police disarmed.
Israel has accused Iran of carrying out the attempts, a charge Iran has denied. The two countries have for years been embroiled in a cold war over Iran’s nuclear programme, which Israel believes is designed to build weapons aimed at threatening its existence.
At least seven Iranian nuclear scientists have disappeared or been killed or injured in attacks since 2007, and US officials speaking anonymously to the NBC news channel earlier this month said Israel is behind the campaign, providing money, training and weapons to the People’s Mujahedin of Iraq, or MEK, to carry them out.
The MEK is designated by the United States as a terrorist group.