A suicide bomber committed the attack that killed 8 people in a bus transporting Israeli tourists at a Bulgarian airport, and Israel accused Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants of responsibility.

At least eight people have died and 34 were injured when the bus exploded at Burgas airport, by the Black Sea in Bulgaria. The bombing attack of an Israeli tourist bus in eastern Bulgaria was probably carried out by a male suicide bomber with fake US documents.

Bulgarian politician and former Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told reporters at the airport of Burgas : ‘ We have established a person who was a suicide bomber in this attack. This person had a fake driving license from the United States. ‘

Tsevanov said also that special forces had managed to obtain DNA samples from the fingers of the bomber and were now checking databases in an attempt to identify him and the Bulgarian security services had received no indications of a pending terrorist attack in the Balkan country.

Eight Israelis tourists killed and dozens more were wounded by an explosion on a bus in Bulgaria in suicide attack / Israel blamed Iran and promised a firm response

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak says that  Lebanese Hezbollah was the direct perpetrator, under Iran’s auspices. According to a statement on the Interior Ministry Web site, the police presence in Burgas has been increased and security raised at the hotels where Israeli tourists are staying. Bulgarian police continued to gather evidence at the scene, interviewing witnesses and watching security camera footage. The Bulgarian bus driver, a 36-year-old man, died of his wounds at the hospital.

The attack was probably initiated by a group under the auspices of either Iran or other radical Muslim groups, according to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who cited Hezbollah and Hamas as likely suspects.

The tourists had arrived in Bulgaria on a charter flight from Israel and were on the bus in the airport car park when the blast tore through the double-decker. Body parts were strewn across the ground and mangled metal hung from the bus’ ripped roof.

Israeli statement had previously said that Bulgaria – a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists, was vulnerable to attack by Islamist militants who could infiltrate from Turkey.

Bus explosion in Bulgaria / suicide terrorist responsible for eight people death in Bulgaria

Photographs and video taken at the Bulgarian airport showed billowing black smoke from the explosion that left the bus a blackened skeleton, scorched several buses nearby, shattered windows and forced the Burgas airport to temporarily close. The witnesses 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.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast, which the Bulgarian foreign minister said had been caused by a bomb placed in the bus’s luggage compartment. But if the Israeli accusations are confirmed, the blast would be the first successful attempt by Iranian operatives to kill Israelis in attacks abroad after a string of failed bomb plots targeting Israeli diplomats in Georgia, India and Thailand this year.

The explosion came only a few days after a suspected operative of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group with close ties to Iran, was arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of plotting to kill Israeli tourists there. That was big news in Israel and reinforced the sense of suspicion that Israelis vacationing abroad might be targets.

Suicide bomber blew up Bulgaria airport bus / Bulgaria News

American President Barack Obama said in a statement that he strongly condemned barbaric terrorist attack on Israelis in Bulgaria, but he did not accuse Iran.

In what appeared to be the Barack Obama administration effort to reinforce his support for Israel, which Barack Obama’s Republican adversary, Mitt Romney, has called into question, the White House also said in a separate statement that Barack Obama had called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer his condolences, and had ‘ pledged to stand with Israel in this difficult time, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators. ‘

Israel, which is believed to have its own nuclear arsenal and has expressed alarm over Tehran’s hostility toward the Jewish state, has said it may attack Iran to try to stop the country from developing nuclear weapons.

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