Car bomb defused in Tbilisi
Explosive was placed under the car of a Georgian staffer at the Israeli Embassy
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
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Local security forces thwarted a bomb attack targeting a driver for the Israeli Embassy in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on Monday.
The bomb, which was attached to a car, was defused before it could explode.
AP reported that an embassy worker who is not an Israeli citizen was driving to work when he heard the sound of something dragging along the road beneath his car. The worker stopped to check the source of the noise and discovered a package dangling under the vehicle. He alerted the police, who found a grenade in the package. Local security forces neutralized the bomb before it could explode.
Israel’s ambassador to Georgia, Yitzhak Gerber, told Ynet he was unfazed by the attack, which did not happen in the immediate vicinity of the embassy building.
“It is unpleasant but this is something that is always on one’s mind,” he said. “Given that yesterday was the fourth anniversary of our parting from [Hezbollah terror chief Imad] Mughniyeh, this was to be expected.”
The assassination of Mughniyeh in a Damascus bomb blast was widely attributed to Israel.