Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Hunt American as Bomber Accomplice: Report

Authorities are hunting for an American suspected of helping a suicide bomber carry out the deadly attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, multiple news sites reported.

Wanted: Authorities issued this sketch of an American citizen suspected of helping the Bulgaria suicide bomber carry out his attack. Image by courtesy of maariv

The reports claimed that Bulgarian and other police were searching for an American citizen named “David Jefferson” who may have helped the terrorist widely depicted in security footage just before the airport attack that killed seven people.

The Israeli paper Maariv was first to report the search for a second suspect.

Police issued a sketch of the suspect, the Times of Israel reported. He was said to be on the loose and may be armed with another bomb, the reports said.

Source at the Interior Ministry told CNN that police were looking for a second suspect, possibly an American.

The bomber, who died in the attack, was first suspected of being a Swedish Islamic militant who did time at Guantanamo Bay. But authorities now insist he is not yet identified. Officials say it will take several days to pinpoint his identity, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Forensic tests haven’t been completed yet. Bulgarians believe the bomber may have been wearing a wig to disguise himself.

Bulgarian prosecutors said the man tried to rent a car in the days before the bombing but was turned down because his ID appeared suspicious.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.