Iranians were 'plotting to attack' Israeli diplomats in Bangkok

Thailand's police chief said the Iranians arrested after accidentally setting off explosives at their rented home in Bangkok were plotting to attack Israeli diplomats, bolstering Israel's claims that the group was part of an Iran-backed network of terror.

"I can tell you that the target was specific and aimed at Israeli diplomatic staff," the police chief General Prewpan Dhamapong said. He also confirmed that the type of explosive – a homemade "sticky" bomb found at the blast site on Tuesday – matched the devices planted on Israeli diplomatic cars in India and Georgia a day earlier. "The type of improvised explosives they used were the same. The type that was attached to vehicles," he said.

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 relations with Thailand.

Thailand's government says it is still trying to piece together what happened when three Iranian men detonated explosives at a home in Sukhumvit Road. Bomb-disposal teams have combed the house for evidence, while security forces are looking for an Iranian woman they said had originally rented it.