Thai police

Bangkok bombers targeted Israeli diplomats, Thai police official says


Bangkok, Thailand (CNN) -- A group that set off explosions in Bangkok this week intended to strike Israeli diplomats, a Thai police official said, intensifying a heated argument between Israel and Iran about a string of bombings in different countries.

Israel and Iran have traded accusations over attacks in Thailand, India and Georgia, with Israel pointing fingers at Tehran and the Iranian regime calling such claims a "prelude" to an Israeli attack.

"I can tell you that the target of the operation of this group is specifically aimed at Israeli diplomats," Police Gen. Priewpan Damapong said late Wednesday in an interview with CNN affiliate Channel 3.

His comments came after a senior Thai security official had drawn a tentative link between the Bangkok blasts and the attacks aimed at Israeli officials in India and Georgia, saying the materials used in the explosive devices were similar.

Two men allegedly involved in the Bangkok blasts have been arrested in Thailand and charged, the authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities arrested a third suspect in Malaysia and Thai police will send an arrest warrant to seek his extradition, said Col. Piya Uthayo, a police spokesman.

Thai officials have also issued an arrest warrant for a woman who is believed to have left Thailand.

Israeli officials have bluntly accused Tehran of the attacks.
Israeli embassy cars targeted in attacks
Israel, Iran blame each other for blasts
Bombs planted on Israeli embassy cars
Blasts stoke Iran-Israel tension

"Iran is a threat to the stability of the world. They are targeting innocent diplomats," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "The international community has to denounce the Iranian actions and to indicate red lines concerning the Iranian aggression."

Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, "condemned the blasts and said that Israeli agents are often the perpetrators of such terrorist acts," Iran's state-run Press TV said on its website.

And state-run Iranian news agency IRNA quoted an analyst as saying the Israeli allegations against Iran involving the bombings in India and Thailand are "a prelude to terrorist attacks against the Islamic Republic."

But Netanyahu, speaking in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, called Iran the leading terror in the world.

"Right now in the past days the Iranian terror has been witnessed by all," he said.

Analysis: Was Iran behind the Bangkok bombings?

The attacks and accusations come amid high tensions between Israel and Iran. Israel had made clear it is considering attacking Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel, the United States and other countries are concerned Iran is building nuclear weaponry, despite Tehran's insistence that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes.

Iranian officials openly antagonize Israel, and Israeli officials have described the regime in Tehran as an existential threat.

Iran on Wednesday flaunted on state television a new generation of centrifuges and mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle.

The blast in Bangkok on Tuesday went off in a rental house believed to be leased to foreigners, according to Thai authorities. After the blast, two of the men left the scene while a third detonated two more bombs -- one when a taxi driver refused to give him a ride, and another when he tried to throw a bomb at police officers as they closed in on him.

The last bomb exploded near the man, blowing off one of his legs, authorities said. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and Iranian documents were found on him. Thai authorities identified him as Saeid Moradi, 28.

Another man arrested at the airport holds an Iranian passport and is one of the two men who left after the bombing at the house, the Thai government said, adding that he was identified as Mohammad Hazaei, 42. He was about to leave for Malaysia, the government said.

Authorities charged those two men with several offenses, including illegal possession of explosives and intent to kill a police officer, said Gen. Pansiri Prapawat, deputy police commander.

Authorities in Malaysia arrested Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, 31, Wednesday afternoon as he was about to board a plane to Iran, Thai authorities said.

Thai authorities were looking for Rohani Laila, the woman believed to have rented the house in Bangkok.

In the events Monday, a device attached to an Israeli Embassy van in New Delhi exploded and injured four people. Another device was found on an embassy car in Tbilisi, but it was safety detonated.

Iran has also denied involvement in those events, which are still being investigated.

Indian police said Thursday that they have not established an Iranian tie to the New Delhi bombing.

"No link with anybody," said P.N. Aggarwal, the head of the unit probing Monday's assault in the Indian capital, who declined to name possible suspects. "Suspicions can't be disclosed. No guess work."

The materials used in the Bangkok bombs had similar characteristics to those used in India, the Thai National Security Council said.