CCTV footage offers no clues to bomber's identity

New Delhi The Delhi Police are looking for the bomber of an Israeli embassy vehicle, who police sources say could be an Iranian student based in India.

The search of the CCTV footage thus far has failed to provide the police any clue as the picture is sketchy.

The CCTV installed at a private bungalow on Aurangzeb Road just shows the motorcyclist wearing helmet and brown jacket, as it could not capture the bomber's face or the number plate of the motorcycle used to stick the low-intensity bomb on the rear right door of the multi-utility vehicle.

"We are searching for the biker and are going through the CCTV footage to get more clues," Dharmendra Kumar, Special Commissioner (Law and Order), Delhi Police, said.

The police are also going through records of all hotels and guest houses to check if any Iranian national had checked in during the fast few days.

While Israeli authorities, both in Tel Aviv and New Delhi, are blaming Iran for Monday's explosion, saying it was carried out by Lebanon-based Hezbollah, New Delhi is reluctant to blame Iran without any proof for the incident, considering it enjoys close, friendly ties with Teheran.

Well-trained attacker

"We condemn this incident. At the moment I am not pointing any finger at any particular group or organisation. Whoever did it, we condemn it in the strongest terms," federal Home Minister P. Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram held a series of meeting with various officials and the commissioner of Delhi Police. All Chidambaram said was that the attacker appeared to be well trained and since the target was the wife of an Israeli diplomat, it was a terrorist attack.

The case is being investigated by the Special Cell of Delhi Police, though officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), headed by its director S.C. Sinha, inspected the damaged vehicles and the spot where the bomb was triggered. Chances of the Home Ministry transferring the case to the NIA is not being ruled out.

Two-man theory

Meanwhile, the police are also working on the theory that two people could have been involved in the blast: while the motorcycle rider planted the bomb, someone else could have triggered it with either a remote control device or a cellular phone. However, no timing device was recovered from the spot. Investigators are still not sure about nature of the explosive used.

The authorities are confident that the low-intensity bomb was used to avoid Indian casualties.

While they are convinced that the bombing is connected to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, they are worried how and why the attackers chose New Delhi to target Israeli national.