Burgas: A suicide bomber was behind the blast against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, officials said on Thursday, as they raised the toll to seven, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed arch foe Iran for the attack. The explosion ripped through a bus picking up tourists arriving from Tel Aviv at the airport of Burgas to head for the beaches and seaside resorts of the formerly communist European Union country.
“The explosion was caused by a man who died in the attack and whose identity has not yet been established,” Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said at Burgas.
The bomber, who was also killed in the blast, was carrying a fake driving licence from the US state of Michigan, he added. The blast killed six Israelis, one Bulgarian and the bomber, Tsvetanov said. The previous toll stood at six killed and more than 30 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.”
“Israel will respond forcefully to Iranian terror,” vowed Netanyahu. “In the past few months we have seen attempts by Iran to harm Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and other places.”
US President Barack Obama stopped short of mentioning Iran but condemned what he called a “barbaric terrorist attack” and reaffirmed his “unshakeable commitment to Israel’s security.”
“These attacks against innocent civilians, including children, are completely outrageous. 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.” said US President Obama.
Obama called Netanyahu and expressed his condolences, while both leaders “agreed that Israel and the United States would work together to investigate the attack,” said an Israeli government statement. (AFP)