The US state secretary, Marco Rubio, called the Delhi car blast a ‘terrorist attack’. He praised India’s professionalism in handling the attack calmly. He made the statements in response to a question regarding Delhi’s claim that the car blast was a terrorist attack.
Mr Rubio praised India, saying that the country should be commended on handling the investigations professionally. He further emphasised that the blast was ‘clearly’ a terror attack, as the car was full of explosives and had killed several innocent people.
He added that the authorities were investigating properly and that the facts would be out once the investigations were complete. Mr Rubio stated that he had talked to External Affairs Minister, Mr S Jaishankar, and the United States was ready to offer help to the country, adding that India is capable of doing the investigations itself.
The two have met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada, where Rubio offered his condolences on the loss of lives in the blast. The leaders have also discussed bilateral issues and other international developments. Mr S Jaishankar posted on his X handle about the talks with the USA’s State Secretary. He appreciates his support and grief, and also listed the other important discussions, including the global supply chain, the Ukraine Conflict, the situation in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region.
The Foreign Minister has also met with other leaders during the summit’s meetings to increase India’s outreach at the multilateral forum. Following the blast on Monday, the entire country was on high alert as the blast had been linked to an inter-state and possibly transnational “white collar terror ecosystem”.
Mr Rubio’s statements were even more important after the Pakistani Prime Minister claimed that the attack on Islamabad, where 12 people died, was backed by India despite the Pakistani Taliban taking responsibility for the same. New Delhi has called the claim explicitly “baseless”.
