BANGKOK – Israel accused Iran of waging a covert campaign of state terror that stretched this week from the Middle East to the heart of Asia after a bungled series of explosions led to the capture of two Iranians in Bangkok.
Authorities in Israel ratcheted up security at home and abroad following Tuesday’s explosions in the Thai capital.
On Monday, an Israeli diplomat’s wife and driver were wounded in New Delhi when a bomb stuck to their minivan exploded, and another device was defused on an Israeli Embassy car in Tbilisi, Georgia. Israel blamed Iran for those attacks as well.
Israel has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, and Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists.
Iran denied responsibility for the attacks in India and Georgia, which appeared to mirror the killings of the Iranian scientists that used “sticky bombs.”
The series of blasts in Bangkok wounded four Thai civilians and blew off the leg of an Iranian who had fled a house carrying what looked like grenades after a cache of explosives ignited there, apparently by mistake.
When police searched the Iranians’ home, the bomb squad found and defused two explosives, and National Police Chief Gen. Prewpan Damapong said the bombs were “magnetic” and could be stuck on vehicles.
The wounded Iranian was in police custody at a Bangkok hospital and immigration police detained a second Iranian as he tried to board a flight for Malaysia. Security forces hunted for a third Iranian suspect.
Israel’s Channel 10 TV quoted unidentified Thai authorities as saying the captured Iranians confessed to targeting Israeli interests.
There was no comment from Iranian officials in Tehran on Tuesday’s explosions.
Thai government spokeswoman Thitima Chaisaeng said “we need more analysis” to determine who was behind the attack and whether Iran was involved. She refused to comment on what the Iranians might have been planning or whether targets had been identified.
There seemed to be no doubt in the minds of Israeli officials, who blamed Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.
“The attempted terrorist attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies continue to perpetrate terror,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in Singapore.
The first blast in Bangkok ripped off part of the roof of an explosives-filled house where the three Iranians were staying, police said.
Surveillance video from just after that blast showed separate images of each of the three suspects walking down a residential street.
One man – identified by police as Saeid Moradi – could be seen wearing a baseball cap and a dark jacket.
“He tried to wave down a taxi, ... and the driver refused to take him,” Police Gen. Pansiri Prapawat said. Moradi responded by hurling an explosive device that damaged the taxi and wounded its driver.
As police tried to apprehend Moradi, he hurled a grenade at them, “but somehow it bounced back” and blew off his leg, Pansiri said.
Hospital officials said his right leg was sheared off below the knee, while his left leg was severely mangled.
