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Were bombs targeting Israelis produced in same Tehran lab?

February 16, 2012 22:54 IST

Security officials are looking into the possibility that bombs used in the recent spate of terror attacks against Israeli targets in India, Georgia and Thailand were produced in the same Tehran lab and smuggled out of Iran via diplomatic mail, a media report has said.

"Diplomatic mail items are exempt from security screening and x-raying, thereby making it easier for Iranian terror masters to provide perpetrators with explosive devices," Israeli daily Yediot Ahronoth reported.

Iran's elite al-Quds force, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, is believed to be behind the recent bombings in New Delhi and Bangkok, as well as the foiled attack in Tbilisi, the daily reported on Thursday.

Israeli officials reportedly said that the global terror offensive started several months ago and includes numerous terror operations, most of them foiled by security forces worldwide before materialising.

The instructions to carry out the attacks are believed to have arrived directly from Tehran and to have received the blessing of Iran's top leaders, the report claimed.  Iran's  willingness to assume such risks and generate friction with other states attests to the huge pressure faced by Tehran and its difficulty in coping with economic sanctions, the assassination of nuclear scientists, and the American threat to operate in the Hormuz  Straits, officials were quoted as saying.

As Israel's ambassadors enjoy a high level of security, Iranian terrorists are believed to be setting their sights on low-level diplomats and the spouses of Israeli envoys, they said.

Israel has stepped up security for its diplomats working overseas and instructed them to operate from home and avoid travelling to their embassies in vulnerable countries, days after attacks in India and elsewhere.

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