Suicide bomber behind Israeli tourist attack: Bulgaria
SOFIA - JERUSALEM - Agence France-Presse
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A suicide bomber carried out the attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said today, raising the death toll to seven."The explosion was caused by a man who died in the attack and whose identity has not yet been established," Tsvetanov said at the airport of Burgas, where the attack occurred on Wednesday.
The bomber was carrying a fake driving license from the US state of Michigan, he added.
The blast killed six Israelis and one Bulgarian, along with the bomber, Tsvetanov said. The previous toll stood at six killed and more than 30 injured.
The explosion, which ripped through a bus picking up tourists arriving from Tel Aviv, is the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004.
Israel faces Iranian 'global wave of terror': Barak
Israel is confronting a "global wave of terror" sponsored by Iran, Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday, a day after an attack in Bulgaria that left six Israelis dead.
"We are facing a global wave of terror... the attack in Burgas was led by members of Hezbollah and sponsored by Iran," Barak told Israeli 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.
Bulgaria's Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said Thursday that the attack at the Black Sea airport of Burgas was carried out by a suicide bomber, and left six Israelis and one Bulgarian dead.
"There are hundreds of thousands of Israelis abroad, and our intelligence services are in contact with their foreign counterparts to share information," Barak said.
"There are often very big successes, but it doesn't always work and we must continue to live. We will do everything possible to track down the perpetrators and instigators of the Burgas attack and punish them," he added.
On Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly accused Tehran and Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah of involvement in the attack.
"All the signs point to Iran," Netanyahu said in a statement, which said the blast was the latest in a string of attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and other places.
And in a phone call with Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Netanyahu "indicated that Iran and Hezbollah were conducting a global terror campaign against Israelis across the world," a statement from his office said.
Wednesday's explosion, which ripped through a bus picking up tourists arriving from Tel Aviv, is the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004.
Russia condemns Bulgaria bombing attack
Russia on Thursday condemned a suicide bombing against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, which the Jewish state has blamed on Iran, as an "atrocity" whose masterminds deserved strict punishment.
"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.
"Those complicit in this atrocity must be identified and carry just punishment,"the statement said.
Bulgarian authorities on Thursday raised the civilian toll to seven -- six of them Israelis -- and blamed the attack on a suicide bomber who targeted a bus picking up tourists arriving from Tel Aviv at the airport of Burgas.
