Berlin, Aug 2: Israeli spy agency Mossad assassinated Iranian nuclear scientist Dariush Rezaei-Nejad in Tehran last month, a media report claimed today.
 Rezaei-Nejad's killing was "the first serious action taken by the new Mossad chief Tamir Pardo," Germany's Der Spiegel reported quoting an Israeli intelligence source.
 35-year-old Rezaei-Nejad, a member of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, was shot five times by unknown assailants as he and his wife were waiting for their child in front of a kindergarten in Tehran on July 23.
 His wife was wounded in the attack. No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
 The attack, the latest in a series targeting Iranian nuclear scientists who are suspected by the West to be working on a nuclear weapon programme, was the fourth in the past year.
 On November 29, 2010, two other Iranian academics were targeted in terrorist attacks.
 The Iranian media and government accused the Mossad, the CIA and MI6 of being behind the attacks on its scientists.
 The weekly said that there is a fierce ongoing debate in Israel over the efficiency of such assassinations, claiming that Israel Air Force officers have stepped up their calls to bomb Iran's nuclear reactor.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 2 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 2 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 3 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST