Buenos Aires March 17. 1992 Argentinia
In 1992 Argentina's Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was the sight of the first
explosion by a car bomb, on March 17, 1992.
The bomb killed 29, and injured over 250. Among the victims were Israeli diplomats,
children and clergy from a church located across the street, and other passerby.
The investigation of the case was assigned to Argentina's Supreme Court. Chief
Justice Ricardo Levene was given
the task of investigating and presenting his findings to the court. For over
two years, however, the investigation languished, and virtually no action
was taken, despite the fact that Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for
the explosion immediately after it happened.
In 1996 the Supreme Court released its findings, which included the possibility
that the bomb used in the attack on the embassy was in fact detonated from
inside the embassy.
In 1998, a telephone call intercepted from the Iranian embassy in Argentina
demonstrated conclusively that Iran had been involved in the attack on the
embassy. Argentina immediately expelled six of the seven Iranian diplomats
in the country.
