Investigations by Indian security agencies into the improvised explosive device (IED) blast near the Israeli Embassy on Friday evening are still not conclusive but the needle of suspicion is pointing towards Iran with local involvement. On Tuesday, the Home Ministry handed over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from the Delhi Police.
Although the investigation is still ongoing, the preliminary investigation suggests the involvement of Iran, reported Hindustan Times. "Deliberate efforts have been made to firewall the real perpetrators behind the terror incident with false flags and deniability built into the attack that obviously was carried out at the behest of Iran," said a senior official requesting anonymity.
Terrorists' organization using Telegram to claim responsibility
As per the available evidence, a Telegram (messaging app) entity, VikarUdDeen@Vikar45, assumed responsibility for the blast near the Israeli Embassy on behalf of an anonymous organization named 'Jaish ul Hind' at 3.27 pm, well before the blast at the Israeli Embassy. Moreover, the message was also sent by Vikr on a Telegram group Qayam Forum that is linked to ISIS.
Jaish ul Hind has a locked Facebook account (jaish.ulhind), a private group of 56 members. Vikar's message was sent and posted to several other ISIS-linked telegram groups, including Jaag Muslim Jaag, Muslim Groups, and Azaadi ki Awaaz Channel, of which Vikar is also a member. It is pertinent to note that ISIS is a Sunni hardline terrorist organization that views Shias as non-believers. Investigations have found out that Vikar's internet protocol address has been shown to be Herat in Afghanistan, an area under the heavy influence of Shia Iran. But the investigation team has contested this to be a false alarm.
The investigators retrieved a letter addressed to Israel's Ambassador to India, Ron Malka after the IED exploded at about 5.11pm on Friday. The letter threatened to kill Malka to avenge Iran Quds Commander Qassem Soleimani, and Abu Mehdhi Al Muhandis, who were killed in a US drone attack and Iranian nuclear physicist Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. But even after such tall claims, the IED appeared to be very basic in nature. The possible involvement of Iran could complicate the diplomatic issues between India and Iran and similar attacks have also been reported in past.
