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Suicide attack on Israelis kills 7 in Bulgaria
July 19, 2012, Thursday
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BULGARIA said today a suicide bomber dressed as a tourist and with fake US ID was behind an attack on Israelis on the Black Sea that killed seven people and left two in a coma.
US President Barack Obama called the attack on a bus at Burgas airport yesterday, the deadliest against Israelis abroad since 2004, a "barbaric terrorist attack" as Israel blamed Iran and Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.
"The suicide bomber, wearing shorts and carrying a backpack, looked like any other tourist," Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said.
"He put his bag in the luggage compartment of the bus that blew up," he told reporters.
"His travel document was a fake driving license from the (US) state of Michigan ... (His) identity has not yet been established."
The explosion ripped through the bus as around 50 Israeli tourists who had just arrived by charter plane from Tel Aviv were loading their bags and boarding a bus about to take them to a nearby seaside holiday resort.
Five of the tourists died at the scene while a sixth, and the vehicle's Bulgarian driver, died from their injuries in hospital. The bomber also perished. Around 30 people were injured.
Witnesses described how panicked passengers jumped from bus windows and bodies lay strewn on the ground with their clothes torn off as ambulance sirens wailed and black smoke rose over the airport.
"I was on the bus and we had just sat down when after a few seconds we heard a really loud explosion," one Israeli tourist, Gal Malka, told Israeli army radio. "The whole bus went up in flames."
"We are facing a global wave of terror... the attack in Burgas was led by members of Hezbollah and sponsored by Iran," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told public radio.
"The Al-Qaeda and Islamic Jihad networks also operate globally," he added, citing a long list of recent attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis around the world including in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya and Cyprus.
"These attacks against innocent civilians, including children, are completely outrageous," said Obama, who expressed his condolences in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The United States will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack."
The bombing, which came on the 18th anniversary of an attack on a Jewish community center in Argentina that killed 85 people, also drew strong condemnation from France, Britain, Russia and others.
"Moscow resolutely condemns this new criminal foray by terrorists, which sought to kill innocent civilians who included women and children," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
French President Francois Hollande expressed his "indignation" at what he called a "barbaric act."
US President Barack Obama called the attack on a bus at Burgas airport yesterday, the deadliest against Israelis abroad since 2004, a "barbaric terrorist attack" as Israel blamed Iran and Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.
"The suicide bomber, wearing shorts and carrying a backpack, looked like any other tourist," Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said.
"He put his bag in the luggage compartment of the bus that blew up," he told reporters.
"His travel document was a fake driving license from the (US) state of Michigan ... (His) identity has not yet been established."
The explosion ripped through the bus as around 50 Israeli tourists who had just arrived by charter plane from Tel Aviv were loading their bags and boarding a bus about to take them to a nearby seaside holiday resort.
Five of the tourists died at the scene while a sixth, and the vehicle's Bulgarian driver, died from their injuries in hospital. The bomber also perished. Around 30 people were injured.
Witnesses described how panicked passengers jumped from bus windows and bodies lay strewn on the ground with their clothes torn off as ambulance sirens wailed and black smoke rose over the airport.
"I was on the bus and we had just sat down when after a few seconds we heard a really loud explosion," one Israeli tourist, Gal Malka, told Israeli army radio. "The whole bus went up in flames."
"We are facing a global wave of terror... the attack in Burgas was led by members of Hezbollah and sponsored by Iran," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told public radio.
"The Al-Qaeda and Islamic Jihad networks also operate globally," he added, citing a long list of recent attacks or attempted attacks on Israelis around the world including in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya and Cyprus.
"These attacks against innocent civilians, including children, are completely outrageous," said Obama, who expressed his condolences in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The United States will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack."
The bombing, which came on the 18th anniversary of an attack on a Jewish community center in Argentina that killed 85 people, also drew strong condemnation from France, Britain, Russia and others.
"Moscow resolutely condemns this new criminal foray by terrorists, which sought to kill innocent civilians who included women and children," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
French President Francois Hollande expressed his "indignation" at what he called a "barbaric act."
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