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Bulgaria accuses Hezbollah of carrying out bus bomb attack Bulgaria accuses Hezbollah of carrying out bus bomb attack
(about 3 hours later)
Bulgaria has accused the Lebanese militant movement Hezbollah of carrying out a bomb attack on a bus in the Black Sea city of Burgas that killed five Israeli tourists last July. The Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah was behind the bombing of a bus filled with Israeli tourists in the Black Sea city of Burgas last July, a Bulgarian investigation has concluded.
The conclusions of the Bulgarian investigation, citing a clear connection to an attack on European Union soil, may open the way for the EU to join the United States in branding the Iranian-backed Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. Five Israeli tourists, the driver and the bomber were killed in the blast.
Three people were involved in the attack, two of whom had genuine passports from Australia and Canada, the Bulgarian interior minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, told reporters after Sofia's national security council discussed the investigation. The militant cell that carried out the attack included a Canadian and an Australian citizen, investigators found. Both had been living in Lebanon, one since 2006 and the other since 2010. "We have well-grounded reasons to suggest that the two were members of the militant wing of Hezbollah," said Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Bulgaria's interior minister.
"There is data showing the financing and connection between Hezbollah and the two suspects," Tsvetanov said. The apparently clear link between Hezbollah and a terrorist attack on European soil opens the way for the EU to include the Lebanese militia on its list of proscribed terrorist organisations.
"What can be established as a well-grounded assumption is that the two persons whose real identity has been determined belonged to the military wing of Hezbollah." Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, urged EU action, saying investigators had found Hezbollah was "directly responsible for the atrocity".
Israel blamed the attack in Burgas – which killed five Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian driver and the bomber – on Iran and Hezbollah, a powerful Shia Islamist militia that is part of the Lebanese government. "This is yet a further corroboration of what we have already known, that Hezbollah and its Iranian patrons are orchestrating a worldwide campaign of terror that is spanning countries and continents," Netanyahu said in a statement.
Iran has denied responsibility and accused its arch-enemy Israel of plotting and carrying out the blast. Hezbollah, designated by the United States as a terrorist organisation in the 1990s, has not publicly responded to charges that it played a role. "The attack in Burgas was an attack on European soil against a member country of the EU. We hope that the Europeans draw the necessary conclusions as to the true character of Hezbollah."
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, welcomed the report, saying the Lebanese militant group and its ally Iran were waging a "global terror campaign". In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Israel said Hezbollah and its sponsor, Iran, were responsible. Iran has denied any involvement, instead accusing Israel of plotting and carrying out the blast. Hezbollah also denied involvement.
Netanyahu said the Bulgarian probe into the 2012 attack in the Black Sea city of Burgas was "further confirmation of what we already knew, that Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, are waging a global terror campaign across borders and continents". The United States designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in the 1990s. Britain and the Netherlands have both included Hezbollah on their national terrorist lists.
He said in a statement: "The attack in Burgas was an attack on European soil against a member of the European Union. We hope the Europeans will draw the necessary conclusions about the true character of Hezbollah." The British foreign secretary, William Hague, said on Tuesday: "It is important that the EU respond robustly to an attack on European soil. Every act of terror is an attack on our shared values. In committing an attack, terrorists seek to undermine our resolve, but they should only serve to strengthen it. The Home Secretary and I will be talking to our EU colleagues about the measures we can now take to continue to make our citizens safer."
The Netherlands considers Hezbollah a terrorist group and said in August that the EU should also do so, which would mean Brussels could act to freeze Hezbollah assets in Europe. The chief opponent of the EU proscribing Hezbollah is believed to be France, which fears its interests in Lebanon could be harmed. Germany is also opposed.
Britain reserves the designation for Hezbollah's armed wing but other EU member states, which have blacklisted the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, have resisted US and Israeli pressure to do the same to Hezbollah. EU foreign affairs chief Lady Ashton said the report's implications needed to be seriously assessed.
Bulgaria, a member of the EU and Nato, has repeatedly said the bombing was plotted elsewhere and carried out by foreigners. Even so, that attack stoked tension in a country where Muslims make up some 15% of the 7.3 million population. The bomb exploded as the bus took a group of Israeli tourists from the airport to their hotel in Burgas. The blast also killed the suspected bomber, a tall and lanky pale-skinned man wearing a baseball cap and dressed like a tourist.
All three people involved in the attack had fake US driving licences that were printed in Lebanon, Tsvetanov said. The two suspects with Canadian and Australian passports had been living in Lebanon, one since 2006 and the other since 2010. The men involved in the attack had fake US driving licences that were printed in Lebanon, according to investigators.
No one has been arrested in connection with the attack and Tsvetanov said he hoped Australia, Canada and Lebanon would co-operate with the continuing investigation. Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, which sent experts to assist with the Bulgarian investigation, said the bomb was detonated remotely using a circuit board. Wainwright said investigators believe the bomber had not intended to die.
Forensic evidence, intelligence sources and patterns in past attacks all point to Hezbollah's involvement, he said. "From what I've seen of the case from the very strong, obvious links to Lebanon, from the modus operandi of the terrorist attack and from other intelligence that we see I think that is a reasonable assumption."
The investigators found no direct links to Iran or to any al-Qaida-affiliated terror group, he added.
Yoram Schewitzer of Israel's Institute of National Security Studies said the significance of the Bulgarian report "will be measured by the actual steps taken by the EU" adding: "For Israel there was no doubt about Hezbollah. If the report materialises into activity, it will be effective. If not, it's just another report."
He said "political considerations" would determine whether the EU listed Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.
No one has been arrested in connection withthe attack. Tsvetanov said he hoped Australia, Canada and Lebanon would cooperate with the continuing investigation.