Attack at Burgas Airport
The attack at Burgas Airport occurred on July 18, 2012 at 5:23 p.m. local time (14:23 UTC ) in the parking lot of Burgas Airport in Bulgaria when a group of Israeli tourists boarded buses for onward transport to Sunny Beach . Seven people (five Israelis, the Bulgarian bus driver and the assassin) were killed and 32 others were injured, including an 11-year-old child, a pregnant woman and two Russians who were also in the parking lot. After the attack, the airport was closed and its operations temporarily suspended.
Course of action
The scene of the crime was a bus parking lot located in the public area of the arrival terminal of the airport in the Black Sea port city of Burgas . The target of the attack was a group of 154 Israeli tourists who were coming from Tel Aviv on their way to the largest Bulgarian tourist destination Sunny Beach and were picked up by several buses. The Israeli passengers had landed in Burgas on a VIM 392 charter flight operated by Air Via , an Airbus A320, coming from Tel Aviv at 4:50 pm local time. After they got on the buses, another man got on a bus. There was an explosion shortly thereafter, so it is believed that this man set off an explosive device that was in his backpack. The bus went up in flames. Two other buses nearby were damaged by the fire.
After the attack, the airport in Burgas was stopped and traffic was diverted to Varna airport , located around 150 km to the north . The Israeli airline El Al canceled its flight from Tel Aviv to Sofia, which should start at 4:00 p.m. UTC. A Lebanese tour group was detained at Varna Airport in connection with the attack.
After almost 24 hours, the airport in Burgas was opened again with the landing of a plane from Tel Aviv on July 19 at 6:00 p.m. July 19 was declared a day of mourning in Burgas.
Manhunt
The perpetrator was believed to be a man with forged US papers.
So far, nobody has taken responsibility for the attack. The Israeli Prime Minister has accused Iran. The Iranian state television has rejected the accusation as "ridiculous".
In response to numerous publications on the Internet and in various media, the Swedish and Bulgarian authorities have denied information that the suicide bomber was Mehdi Ghezali . He is a Swedish citizen with Algerian roots and was a terrorist suspect in the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . According to information from unspecified “official persons” in the US government, the assassin was identified as a member of a Hezbollah cell operating in Bulgaria . At the presentation of the final report of a Bulgarian commission of inquiry, which had dealt with the background to the attack, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov held Hezbollah responsible for the attack in February 2013. Two suspects belonged to their armed arm, including the assassin.
On July 22, 2013, the Council of the European Union put the Hezbollah militia, but not Hezbollah itself, on the list of terrorist organizations . The reason given by the foreign ministers was that, according to the Bulgarian authorities, the evidence that Hezbollah was behind the attack has been growing.
On July 25, 2013, the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior published data on alleged accomplices of the attackers. They were the Australian citizen Maliad Farah and the Canadian Hassan Hassan. Both also have Lebanese citizenship.
Miscellaneous
Immediately before the attack, the Mayor of Burgas, Dimitar Nikolov , and the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development , Suma Chakrabarti , were at the airport. The latter had arrived in the port city on July 17, 2012 for a two-day visit and took off just a few minutes before the attack.
The attack in Burgas took place on the anniversary of the 18 July 1994 attack on a Jewish establishment in Buenos Aires , Argentina, which left 85 dead and more than 300 injured. This attack was carried out by Hezbollah .
On July 15, 2012, a Lebanese man was arrested in Limassol, Cyprus while preparing an attack. The man had been in possession of photographs of Israeli targets and information about Israeli airlines flying into Cyprus and tourist buses that transport Israeli travelers.
After the attack, a stronger police presence in public places was ordered in Sofia, which is related to the 5,000-person Jewish community in Sofia.
See also
Web links
- Attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria Suicide bomber allegedly carried out attack , sueddeutsche.de, accessed on 19 July 2012
- Bulgaria: Dead in attack on Israeli coach , stern.de, accessed on July 19, 2012
- Dead in attack on a coach carrying Israeli tourists (Bulgarian), capital.bg , accessed on July 19, 2012
- youtube video of the burning bus
- youtube video: sequence with the suspected perpetrator
Individual evidence
- ^ Spiegel Online: Alleged assassin disguised himself as a tourist , published July 19, 2012
- ↑ Interior Minister Tsvetanov ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , burgasnews.com, July 19, 2012
- ^ 7 killed in terror attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria
- ↑ "Эхо Москвы": Двама граждани на Русия са пострадали при атентата на летището в Бургас . Information agency Focus. July 18, 2012. Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- ↑ The airport website shows that at 4:50 p.m. an Air Via aircraft with flight number VIM 392 from Tel Aviv landed in Burgas ( memento of the original from July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and still Not checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (from the Bulgarian: Сайтът на летището показва, че в 16:50 самолетът на авиокомпания Air VIA е кацнал, accessed on July 21, 2012
- ↑ The flight from Air Via from Tel Aviv landed at 4:50 p.m. at Burgas Airport (bulg.)
- ↑ The airport in Burgas was opened with a flight from Tel Aviv (bulg.), Dnevnik, accessed July 19, 2012
- ↑ В Бургас е обявен ден на траур , The day of mourning has been proclaimed in Burgas
- ↑ Bulgaria blast: 'Suicide bomber' killed Israelis (BBS News)
- ↑ Israeli prime minister blames Iran for Bulgaria bomb ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Reuters)
- ↑ ранската държавна телевизия: Обвиненията за връзка с атентата в Бургас са "смехотворни" (bulg.)
- ^ Swedish, Bulgarian officials deny Mehdi Ghezali is Burgas suicide bomber ( Haaretz )
- ^ Hezbollah Is Blamed for Attack on Israeli Tourists in Bulgaria (New York Times)
- ↑ Sofia: Hezbollah carried out the attack (Deutsche Welle)
- ↑ Bulgaria accuses Hezbollah (Deutschlandradio)
- ^ Decision in Brussels: EU puts Hezbollah militia on terrorist list ; Spiegel-Online (accessed on July 21, 2013)
- ^ Bulgaria wants to bring accomplices of Burgas assassins to justice
- ↑ See: Suma Chakrabarti in Bulgaria ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Bulgarian Ministry of Finance; Минути преди да избухне бомбата от Бургас е излетял шефът на ЕБВР ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (bulg.), e-burgas.com, accessed July 19, 2012
- ↑ Yves Dubitzky: financing of Islamic terrorism, research, GRIN Verlag, Munich Ravensburg 2008, p 35
- ↑ Israeli PM: held suspect planned tourist attack ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , cyprus-mail.com
