27-01-2012 11:53:02

Peres thanks Aliyev for foiling terror attacks on Israelis

Israeli President Shimon Peres thanked Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday over the recent prevention of terror attacks targeting Israeli public figures in Baku, the Israeli president’s press office said in a statement.

Peres, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, told Ilham Aliyev that Israel saluted his country for “saving lives of Israeli citizens from a murderous terrorist attack”.

Aliyev, according to Peres’s office, said the plot showed “to what degree we are in a difficult and dangerous neighborhood.

Azerbaijan showed that it is able to defend itself and its citizens regardless of their ethnicity or religion.”

Aliyev said Azerbaijan would continue to cooperate with Israel, especially on homeland security issues.

According to the Azerbaijani president’s press service, Aliyev’s talks with Peres focused on bilateral relations and prospects for cooperation in the areas including economics and scientific research.

The Azerbaijani National Security Ministry said last week that two Azerbaijani nationals who planned attacks on foreign public figures in Baku had been seized. The crimes were ordered in August 2011 by a resident of the Iranian city of Ardabil, who is wanted over grave crimes and has connections with the Iranian secret service agencies, the ministry said. Israeli media reported that the intended victims were the Israeli ambassador and two employees of the Chabad Or Avner Jewish school in Baku.

TAGS: Shimon Peres, Ilham Aliyev, terror attacks, Israel, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland