Israel feels sorrow for slain Argentinian prosecutor in attack probe

Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed on Monday its "deep sorrow" over the death of an Argentinian persecutor who investigated a terrorist attack on a Jewish center in 1994.

"Nisman, a courageous jurist of high stature, worked with great determination in order to expose the identity of the perpetrators behind the attack and those who sent them," Israel's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon said in the statement.

Argentinian prosecutor Alberto Nisman had led the investigation and probed a possible cover-up by Argentinian officials for the alleged Iran's involvement in the bombing of a Jewish center in 1994 in Buenos Aires.

The prosecutor was found dead in his apartment from gunshot wounds to the head on Sunday night, just several hours before he was about to testify about Argentinian President Christina Kirchner's alleged cover-up of the suspects in front of a congressional panel of Argentinian lawmakers.

The statement expressed Israel's "deep sorrow over the tragic circumstances of the death", adding that the late prosecutor "made every attempt to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks."

It said that Israeli officials hope Argentina would continue his work and bring those responsible to justice.

According to Argentinian media outlets, Nisman had received several death threats over the years.

The 1994 attack took place at the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. The bombing attack killed 85 people and injured hundreds, in what came to be known as one of Argentina's deadliest attacks.

There have been ongoing accusations against law enforcement officials over apparent cover-ups and incompetence.

In 2006, Nisman and another attorney, Marcelo Martinez Burgos, accused the government of Iran for directing the bombing and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah for conducting it. Endit