The bomb attack on Monday in which Tal Yehoshua (42), wife of an Israeli diplomat was injured is new to India both in terms of the use of magnet bomb and the modus operandi, where a motorcyclist came from behind, stuck the bomb to the vehicle and fled.
This modus operandi poses new challenges for the security agencies and has the potential to make VIPs and people on the hit list of terrorist more vulnerable.
Experts believe that after the new model of “terror attack”, security agencies of the country cannot be complacent because there is a possibility of this methodology being emulated by local terrorist organisations.
“Every terrorist organisation has a specialised modus operandi. In this case, it seems to be a method used by Iranian or some Shiite group. However, it can be emulated by some local terrorist outfit as well. In that case, it may pose a new threat to the VIPs of the country. Our security agencies cannot be complacent,” Prakash Singh, former Director General of Border Security Force told Deccan Herald.
Echoing the same, former Director of CBI Joginder Singh, said, the recent attack shows that terrorist are equipped with latest technologies, and to fight the menace, there’s a need to review the training programme of security agencies.
“Modern day terrorists are equipped with modern technologies. To fight them, our security agencies have to be one step ahead of them. For this, we have to provide proper training to security personnel,” Singh said. Giving first official sequence of the incident that took place near Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram described that the magnetic bomb exploded within seconds after motorcyclist stuck it to the car that was carrying the Israeli diplomat’s 42-year-old wife.
The loud explosion was heard till one-kilometre radius. The car immediately caught fire, injuring Tal Yehoshua, her driver Manoj Sharma (42) and two people travelling in a nearby car—Manjeet Singh, 78 and Arun Sharma, 60.
Expressing concern over security issue of VIPs and common man, a senior leader of Congress party told this newspaper: “Me and you are safe only because we have not been attacked till now. So, keep praying to God for our well being because it is impossible to provide security to 1.2 billion people.”