Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Search On for Accomplices in Bulgaria Bombing

Bulgarian police are still searching for accomplices to the suicide bomber that killed six on an Israeli tour bus in Burgas.

One accomplice is believed to have been a backup for the suicide bomber, the Novinite.com website reported, and is likely to still be in Bulgaria, possibly with another bomb. The second was set to shoot the other two if they were captured by, or turned themselves in to, the police. They reportedly were both on hand at the airport at the time of the attack.

The suicide bomber, who was dressed like an American tourist and carried a fake Michigan drivers’ license, has not yet officially been identified, though he is reported to be a Swedish Muslim who spent time at Guantanamo Bay.

Bulgarian media reported that eyewitnesses to the attack described two distinct people when asked to describe the bomber, leading to the theory that the bomber had back-up. The second attacker may be an American named David Jefferson, according to reports.

An unknown group calling itself a Qaedat al-Jihad has claimed responsibility for the attack. The Belgian Foreign Ministry has denied the claim, saying that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah perpetrated the attack, a claim backed up by the United States and Israel.

“Our people are working around the clock with their Bulgarian counterparts; as well as with other leading intelligence services from around the world. In the meantime it is clear that the terror attack was directed by Hezbollah,” Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday morning. “It is clear that at least one other person was involved – maybe more – whose identity is not Middle Eastern; probably intentionally. All other additional details remain unclear. The suicide bomber was a ‘misled fool’; who sent him to act… who else took part in the act… These things will become clear over the course of the next few weeks.”

Barak added: “There is no doubt that we are facing a global terror campaign, against Israel in particular, with Hezbollah at its center, inspired by Iran. Unfortunately, however, there are many other players.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  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.