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Bangkok Explosions Update: Iranian Caught in Malaysia (February 15, 2012)

Here’s the latest on Tuesday’s explosions here in Bangkok:

The AP reports:

Israeli officials ramped up accusations Wednesday that Iran was launching covert attack plots, saying “sticky” bombs found in a Thai house rented by Iranians were similar to devices used against Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the violence, while Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the allegations “baseless” and said Israel was trying to damage his country’s relations with Thailand and fuel “conspiracy” theories.

Thailand’s government was trying to determine what three Iranian men were plotting when a cache of explosives detonated accidentally in their home in Bangkok’s busy Sukhumvit Road area a day earlier. Bomb disposal teams combed the Iranians’ house again Wednesday looking for more evidence, while security forces were searching for an Iranian woman they said had originally rented it.

Two of the men were detained in Bangkok on Tuesday after fleeing the destroyed house, while a third was arrested Wednesday in neighboring Malaysia after boarding a flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur overnight.

Israel has accused Iran of waging a campaign of state terror and has threatened military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has blamed the Jewish state for the recent killings of Iranian atomic scientists and has denied responsibility for all three plots this week.

Meanwhile, the New York Times says:

Thai authorities said on Wednesday that the group of Iranians detained after an explosion tore the roof off their rented house was on a mission here targeting Israeli diplomats.

“This much I can tell you — the target of the operation was specifically the Israeli diplomatic staff,” Gen. Prewpan Dhamapong, Thailand’s chief of police, said in a television interview.

(All emphasis mine.)

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