An explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria has killed at least seven six people and wounded about 30 others.
Wednesday's blast occurred in the Black Sea city of Burgas, about 400 kilometers from the capital, Sofia. Police say several other buses at the site were also damaged.
Israeli officials have blamed Iran for the explosion. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Bulgarian authorities informed the Ministry that the explosion was caused by a bomb placed on the bus.
No group has claimed responsibility. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that similar attacks on Israeli tourists in India, Thailand and other places point to Iran. He did not clarify.
U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the bombing as “a barbaric terrorist attack.” VoA.
"Bulgarian media on Thursday named the suicide bomber who blew up a bus full of Israeli tourists, killing five Israelis and a local bus driver, in the Black Sea resort of Burgas on Wednesday as 36-year-old Mehdi Ghezali.... He had been held at the US’s Guantanamo Bay detainment camp on Cuba from 2002 to 2004, having previously studied at a Muslim religious school and mosque in Britain, and traveled to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, it says. He was taken into custody on suspicion of being an al-Qaeda agent, having been arrested along with a number of other al-Qaeda operatives.... He was also reportedly among 12 foreigners captured trying to cross into Afghanistan in 2009."Times of Israel 19 July 2012
"Mehdi" is a term used by Iranian based jihadists, including Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Baghdad based terrorists were called the "Mehdi Militia."
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