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| Europe | |||
| Bulgaria Bus Boomer Roundup | |||
| 2012-07-22 | |||
| Bulgarian Foreign Ministry dismisses ‘Qaedat al-Jihad’ claim to Burgas attack Previously unknown group had sent Lebanese newspaper email saying it carried out bombing in Bulgaria Pentagon backs Hezbollah link to Burgas terror attack The Pentagon said Friday that there were "distinctive Hezbollah markings" linked to the Burgas terror attack which claimed the lives of five Israelis.  Nevertheless, the Pentagon's spokesperson said that the US cannot "decisively state" who was behind the attack. Burgas bomb was TNT device hidden in backpack, Bulgarian minister says Authorities closing in on identity of airport bomber, who may have been wearing a wig; local car rental firm owner says suspect had Arab accent Two days after a deadly blast in a popular vacation spot killed five Israelis and a Bulgarian, investigators in Bulgaria and in several other countries were making steady progress in investigating the crime and closing in on the identity of the bomber. Israel's Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies had teams on the ground at the Black Sea resort of Burgas helping with the probe. Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said Friday evening that the bomb had been carried in the backpack of a man caught on security cameras at Bulgas's Sarafovo Airport shortly before the blast there. Tsvetanov said the bomb had detonated in the luggage compartment of the bus carrying Israelis from their newly landed plane to the terminal on Wednesday afternoon. The bomber was believed to have been about 36 years old and had been in the country between four to seven days, he said. He later said in an interview with state TV that the blast was caused by 3 kilograms of TNT powder. Bulgarian prosecutors said the attacker had short hair, not the long hair seen in the security video footage captured of him at the airport where the attack took place Wednesday afternoon. A witness said the man appeared to be wearing a wig. The same man, according to eyewitnesses quoted on Israel's Channel 2 news, had been seen speaking to tourists at local beaches in the days before the attack. According to one eyewitness report, the man struck up a conversation with tourists from Holland, and told them that his mother was Dutch and his father was Iranian. An analyst on Israel's Channel 2 suggested that the bombing may not have been a deliberate suicide bombing, but that the device may have detonated prematurely, killing the attacker.
Israeli and American officials have blamed the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah for Wednesday's bombing, which killed five vacationing Israelis, along with a Bulgarian bus driver and the attacker. In a TV interviews Friday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he was certain who carried it out. "Hezbollah is behind the attack, it was part of a series of attacks," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV. "We know that Iran is behind it all. What we don't know is who the actual man is." Though Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gloated over the attack on Thursday, Iran denied responsibility for the attack,
Security camera footage from before the attack showed the suspected bomber wandering in and out of the terminal, wearing a baseball cap over long hair, a T-shirt and plaid shorts, with a bulky backpack. 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. Authorities have examined his fingerprints, his DNA and his fake Michigan driver's license. They also said the man actually had short hair. It was not clear if he was wearing a wig, or if he had a haircut after the airport footage was taken. Afrodita Petrova, the owner of the car rental company, told Bulgarian National TV that the suspect had short dark hair when visiting the office. She said he was the same person from the video camera footage and appeared to be wearing a wig. "He spoke English with an Arab accent," she said. Tsvetanov said the investigation had ruled out that the bomber was a Bulgarian citizen, but did not say how authorities know that. He said the investigation had also ruled out that the bomber was Mehdi Ghezali, a Swedish citizen and former Guantanamo detainee whom authorities had previously fingered as the bomber. Israel has officially issued a complaint with the UN Security Council, accusing Iran of responsibility for the attack. Israeli representative Haim Waxman wrote the Security Council president that the attack in Bulgaria was part of an international terrorist campaign against Israelis and Jews worldwide, led by Iran and Hezbollah.
Man in artist’s sketch may have been the Burgas bomber himself, rather than a helper, authorities now believe Bulgarian authorities have established that a Hezbollah terror cell orchestrated last Wednesday’s bombing on a bus at Burgas airport in which five Israelis and the Bulgarian bus driver were killed, Israel’s Channel 2 news reported on Saturday night. There is a concern that members of the cell have fled Bulgaria, possibly overland to Turkey. The authorities distributed an artist’s sketch on Friday of a man they believed had helped the bomber, but they now believe the man in the sketch may have been the bomber himself, the report added. Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on Saturday “there may have been a second man” directly involved in the bombing. “We have not ruled that out.” With assistance from Israeli Mossad and Shin Bet teams, and other intelligence agencies, the Bulgarians were reported to be analyzing remnants of the bomb — a homemade device comprising 3 kg. of TNT — in order to determine its origin. | |||
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Put them on a "Boom Bus"(Chained into the seats, like prisoners) set it off, end of problem. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2012-07-22 05:56 |