Israeli spies behind bomb attacks to stop Pakistan nuclear programme: Suspicions aired in Swiss report

Israel's espionage agency Mossad is suspected to have had a hand in attacks on Swiss and German companies and engineers believed to have aided Pakistan's nuclear programme.

News reports appearing in Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung, and Israel's Jerusalem Post detailed how the Jewish state may have tried to prevent Pakistan's efforts to become the first Islamic state with an atomic bomb - a development seen as an existential threat by Israel.

On February 20, 1981, an explosion reportedly occurred in the house of a leading employee of Cora Engineering Chur. On May 18 the same year, the factory building of the Walischmiller company in Markdorf, and on November 6, the engineering office of Heinz Mebus in Erlangen were attacked, as per the report. The explosions resulted in property damage and the death of a dog, said NZZ. The Organisation for the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in South Asia had claimed responsibility for the attacks.

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The news report said that the attacks occurred after the United States of America failed to impress upon the German and Swiss authorities the need to crack down on these companies and engineers allegedly helping Pakistan.

In the 1980s, Abdul Qadeer Khan, considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, was touring Europe to obtain technology and blueprints, as per the report. In 1987, Khan reportedly met a delegation of Iran's Organisation for Atomic Energy, and 2 German engineers, at a Zurich hotel.

Around a decade later, in May 1998, Pakistan carried out its first public test of nuclear weapons.