Five Israelis, the Bulgarian bus driver and the yet unidentified suicide bomber were killed in the explosion
Bulgaria was the scene of a grizzly suicide bombing that claimed the lives of seven individuals, including five Israelis, and injured numerous others, including 33 Israeli nationals.
The bombing occurred in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
Bulgarian television aired surveillance footage Thursday depicting the suspected bomber as he meandered in and out of the Sarafovo airport terminal. The suspected bomber appeared to be Caucasian and had long, lanky hair (possibly a wig) under a baseball cap. He wore plaid shorts and a T-shirt and appeared as if a tourist himself. The suspected bomber carried two large bags, one slung over his shoulder and the other, a large suitcase with wheels, on his back. According to Bulgarian officials, the suspected bomber carried a fake Michigan driver’s license that read Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The bombing occurred as a number of Israeli tourists were boarding a bus to take them to their hotel. The Israelis had arrived in Burgas on a charter flight from Tel Aviv carrying 154 people, including eight children.
The seven killed in the bombing include five Israelis, the Bulgarian bus driver and the suicide bomber.
On Thursday, the Israeli Interior Ministry released the identities of the five murdered Israelis: Itzik Colangi, 28, Amir Menashe, 28, Elior Price, 26, Maor Harosh, 25, and Kochava Shriki, 44.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, yet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cast blame on Iranian-backed Hezzbollah, a Lebanese Shiite Muslim guerilla group, according to the Associated Press.
Netanyahu spoke Thursday from his office in Jerusalem, saying Iran and Hezbollah “attack and murder innocent citizens, families, young ones, children, people who went for an innocent vacation and whose sin is to be Israeli and Jewsish.”
The Israeli Prime Minister added that it is time for the world to accept that “Iran is behind the wave of terror” and is the most “dangerous country in the world.”
“A terror state cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu continued. “The most dangerous country in the world cannot have the most dangerous weapons on earth.”
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak described Hezbollah as the “director executors” of the suicide attack and swore that Israel “will do all it can to find those responsible and punish them, both those who carried it out directly and those who dispatched them.”
Iranian state TV has since called Israel’s allegations “ridiculous” and “sensational.”
