h/t Gates of Vienna
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has a reputation for avoiding conflict. But as the euro crisis has worsened, his power has increased. He is one of the few winners of the problems facing Europe's common currency. Never let a crisis go to waste, eh? Continued on Page 47
Swedish and Bulgarian officials denied Thursday that Mehdi Ghezali, a Swedish citizen of Algerian descent, is responsible for the attack against Israelis in Bulgaria a day earlier.
Bulgarian media reported earlier Thursday that the suspected suicide bomber who blew up a bus of Israeli tourists in Burgas, which killed seven people and wounded 34, was Ghezali, who is a 33-year-old former detainee of Guantanamo. Several hours after the name was circulated in Israeli and global media, Swedish officials were quoted by the Swedish news agency TT as saying that Mehdi Ghezali was not the bomber behind the Burgas attack.
I'm sure his mother is happy...
Moreover, Bulgarian officials told ABC news that the bombing suspect's name that has been circulating on the web is incorrect.
Earlier Thursday, Bulgarian media reported that the man responsible for the attack was Mehdi Ghezali, a 33-year-old Swedish citizen of Algerian descent and former Guantanamo detainee. The Novinite Daily reported Thursday that the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said that officials are still trying to determine whether the suspect's U.S. passport was also counterfeit.
Earlier Thursday, ABC showed an image of the suspect's fake Michigan driver's license with the name Jacque Felipe Martin. According to the image obtained by ABC, the license read "Michigan Operator's License" and showed a fake Louisiana address, which is actually that of a casino called the Belle of Baton Rouge.
Bulgarian media reported that the man had been in the country between four to seven days, and was about 35 years old.
Bulgarian police said they believed the suspect was the suicide bomber because his body sustained the most damage in the explosion.
Usually a good indicator...
The Bulgarian police said that footage from airport security cameras captured the suspect roaming the airport for at least one hour, the Novinite Daily reported.
That seems a little strange: you'd think the splodydope would get in and set off the bomb as soon as he could to ensure he wouldn't get caught.
According to the report he was a long-haired Caucasian in sportswear.
Top Bulgarian official said Thursday that it was a "mistake" to blame any specific country or organization for the terror attack.
"We are only in the beginning of the investigation and it is wrong to jump to conclusions," he added, saying that Bulgaria had "excellent cooperation with the Israeli security forces in matters pertaining to the investigation."
Mladenov added that the countries "will investigate until we discover who is behind the attack. At this stage all we know about the identity of the culprit is his external appearance and a copy of a counterfeit Michigan driver's license."
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2012 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
