Topic: Bulgaria: 3 dead as blast hits bus with Israelis
no photo
Wed 07/18/12 10:12 AM
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A bus carrying Israeli youth in a Bulgarian resort area exploded Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding at least 27 others, police and hospital officials said. Witnesses told Israeli media that the huge blast occurred soon after someone boarded the vehicle.

The incident took place in the Black Sea city of Burgas, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the capital, Sofia. Images shown on Israeli media showed smoke billowing from the scene — a parking lot at the area's airport, where the tourists had apparently just landed. Several buses and cars had caught fire near the carcass of the targeted vehicle.

Bulgaria, an eastern European nation, is a popular tourist destination for Israelis. Bulgarian leaders including President Rosen Plevneliev were on their way to the site.

Although it was not yet certain what caused the blast, Israeli tourists have been targeted in attacks before before, namely in India, Thailand and Azerbaijan. Israel foe Iran is suspected of being behind these assaults.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Rosenzweig said a flight from Tel Aviv had landed at a quarter to 5 p.m. and that the blast took place about 40 minutes later.

The tourists were apparently boarding the buses to go to their hotels.

"We don't know if it was a terror attack," said Paul Hirschson, another spokesman for the ministry. "We do know it was an explosion."

Witness Gal Malka told Israel's Channel 2 TV that she saw someone board the bus before it exploded. She said the bus was full of Israeli teenagers.

The wounded were ferried to nearby hospitals and the airport was closed. A doctor on duty at the Burgas city hospital told Bulgarian radio that there were 27 people hurt — and at least three had severe injuries. He was not identified.

Officials said Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had spoken with his Bulgarian counterpart and was being kept abreast of the developments.

Israel has been accused by Iran of being behind deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists. Israel has never admitted to involvement, but it and others have accused Iran of alleged reprisal missions, including a February bombing in New Delhi that wounded an Israeli diplomat's wife and the discovery of a cache of explosives in Bangkok that Thai officials claim was linked a plot to target Israeli diplomats

Israel has blamed Iran for the New Delhi explosion, as well as two others, one the same day in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and the other the next day in Thailand. Iran has denied involvement.

In Azerbaijan's capital of Baku, security officials in March announced the arrest of 22 suspects allegedly hired by Iran for terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Israeli embassies and other Western-linked sites.

no photo
Wed 07/18/12 10:13 AM
"Love the bias. If it's a Palestinian then it's Youth, or young boy etc...gunned down by Israeli whatever no matter the circumstances in huge headlines. Here we have an Israeli youth sports group blown up and for all there is in the story they could've been 80 years old and no screaming headlines either."

Conrad_73's photo
Wed 07/18/12 10:56 AM

"Love the bias. If it's a Palestinian then it's Youth, or young boy etc...gunned down by Israeli whatever no matter the circumstances in huge headlines. Here we have an Israeli youth sports group blown up and for all there is in the story they could've been 80 years old and no screaming headlines either."
Yep,interesting,isn't it?

s1owhand's photo
Wed 07/18/12 11:07 PM
This was an attack aimed solely at killing as many young kids as
possible. It is a war crime in any conflict just as disgusting as
if they had rounded up a group of children at a day-care facility
and shot them publicly in the street.

I hope they find those responsible and that they are treated like
the war criminals that they are.

Six are now dead.

Here's the update:

(Reuters) - Six people were killed in a bomb attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at a Bulgarian airport on Wednesday and Israel accused Tehran of carrying out the attack, promising a strong response to "Iranian terror".

Body parts were strewn across the ground and mangled metal hung from the bus's torn-back roof. Its windows were blown out and surrounded by scorch marks, as clouds of dense black smoke billowed above the airport.





see
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/18/us-bulgaria-explosion-idUSBRE86H0YX20120718

no photo
Thu 07/19/12 04:04 AM
Edited by 5apphire on Thu 07/19/12 04:04 AM
The Wednesday 18th attack also marked the 18th anniversary of the attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed.