Hezbollah Was Behind Burgas Bombing, Says Bulgarian Minister
Bulgaria’s Interior Minister said he is certain that the Hezbollah terrorist organization was behind the bombing of a tour bus in Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver.
“All traces lead there,” Tsvetlin Yovchev told journalists Monday, according to the Sofia News Agency. “What can we prove in court, is another matter. If you’re asking me if I am certain of this – yes, I am.”
His remarks came several hours after Bulgarian media reported that the suicide bomber, who detonated explosives on or near an Israeli tour bus on July 19, 2012, outside the Burgas airport, was of Algerian origin and had trained in terrorist camps in South Lebanon.
Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor announced in February the discovery of a third suspect.
The two suspects previously identified in the July 2012 bombing are believed to be in Lebanon. They are Meliad Farah, a 32-year-old Australian also known as Hussein Hussein, and Hassan el-Hajj Hassan, a 25-year-old Canadian. Both are said to be associated with Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist group; both also hold Lebanese citizenship.
Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attack.
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