Israel Blames Iran for Deadly Bus Attack

Posted on Jul 19, 2012

AP

The bombed-out bus is trucked away from Burgas airport a day after the attack.

Israel is blaming Iran, its longtime adversary, for the deaths of seven Israeli tourists in a bomb attack on a bus in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bus was carrying 40 members of an Israeli group from the airport to their hotels when the blast occurred.

Within an hour of the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “all signs point to Iran,” without offering evidence to back up the claim of responsibility.

An executive of an Israeli counterterrorism organization linked the attack to recent thwarted attempts by the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, which receives funding and political support from Iran.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

The Guardian:

The attack comes days after a 24-year-old Lebanese man affiliated with Hezbollah was arrested in Cyprus on suspicion of planning a terror attack targeting Israeli tourists, based on evidence provided to local police by Israeli intelligence.

The man was found with information on tour buses carrying Israeli passengers, a list of Cypriot spots favoured by Israeli tourists and details of Israeli airlines that fly into Cyprus, Greek newspaper Phileleftheros reported.

“Based on the modus operandi of Hezbollah and Iranian agencies, including the Revolutionary Guard, I think a clear trademark connects today’s attack with those elements,” said Boaz Ganor, executive director at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel.

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