World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder has condemned the murderous terror attack in which six Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian bus driver were killed when one of three buses carrying mostly Israeli men, women and children was blown up outside the airport of Burgas, a popular holiday resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. More than 20 people were injured in the blast.
“It is no coincidence that this assault comes 18 years to the day since the Iranian regime sponsored attack against the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires took the lives of 85 innocent victims”, Lauder said. The current Iranian Defense Minister, Ahmed Vahidi, was indicted by Argentinian authorities and is sought by Interpol.
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments regarding the Iranian regime’s involvement in this deadly attack remind the world of the role Iran, and the terrorist groups it supports, play in global terrorism,” Lauder said. “All signs lead to Iran,” Netanyahu had said in reaction to the attack, adding: “Israel will respond forcefully to Iranian terror.”
US President Barack Obama described the attack as barbaric. “The US will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack,” he said in a statement.
Bulgarian PM: Attack work of a suicide bomber with fake US passport
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on Thursday that the terror attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber. The suspected bomber was carrying a US passport believed to be fake, according to the 'Sofia News Agency'. Initial reports suggested that the explosion had been caused by a bomb placed in the luggage compartment of the bus. However, an investigation carried out by Bulgarian authorities in conjunction with the FBI, CIA and Israeli authorities now points to a suicide bomber described as a Cauacasian man with long hair and sports attire, according to the report.
Photographs and video taken at Burgas airport showed billowing black smoke from the explosion that left the bus a blackened skeleton, scorched several buses nearby, shattered windows and forced the airport to temporarily close. Witnesses quoted by Israeli news media said some victims were on fire as they tried to escape the bus. They said that many suffered severe burns and that body parts were flung around the parking lot.
The explosion in Bulgaria came only days after a suspected operative of Hezbollah, the Lebanese terror group which has close ties to Iran, was arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of plotting to kill Israeli tourists there.
