7 killed in blast on Israeli tour bus in Bulgaria

Twenty more people are reported to be injured in the explosion on a bus picking up Israeli tourists from Burgas Airport. Netanyahu: All the signs point to Iran.

An explosion hit an Israeli tour bus in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas today. According to reports from the Bulgarian news agency, a bus hired by tour company "Kavei Hufsha" carrying Israeli tourists from the airport was hit by a sudden explosion. According to reports on Bulgarian television, seven people have been killed, and twenty more are injured. Eye witnesses, among them Israelis, said that the bus exploded and burst into flames. Ambulances took the injured to hospital.

The tourists landed in Burgas at 16:50 this afternoon on a charter flight from Tel Aviv.

Traffic to and from the airport has been halted.

An eyewitness told Channel 2 News that besides the tourists another man, not an Israeli, boarded the bus, and then the explosion happened. Some suggestions are that a bomb on the bus was remotely detonated.

Shoshi, an eyewitness, told Channel 2: "We passed through passport control and waiting representatives divided us among the buses according to our hotels. We put our suitcases in the baggage compartment, and after a few minutes the bus leaving with us burst into flames. After that, they returned us to the terminal, and now they're checking who is here and who is missing."

Shoshi's son added: "People who survived the explosion escaped through the windows to avoid treading on bodies. You could see the baggage compartment blown out from both sides. They got everyone into the terminal very quickly."

According to initial reports, there are several casualties at the site of the explosion, but their state is not known. Representative's of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bulgaria are attempting to gain a picture of the situation on the ground. Magen David Adom is on alert to fly teams from Israel to Bulgaria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is consulting security chiefs about the attack in Bulgaria. "All the signs point to Iran," he said. "Just in the past few months, we have seen Iranian attempts to hit Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus, and elsewhere. Exactly 18 years after the bombing of the Jewish community center in Argentina, murderous Iranian terror continues to kill and injure innocent people. This is an Iranian terror campaign that is spreading throughout the world. Israel will respond powerfully to Iranian terror."

El Al flight LY 551 from Tel Aviv to Sofia that was due to take off at 19:15 with 186 passengers on board has been delayed until permission to fly is obtained from the relevant authorities, as has flight LY 552 from Sofia to Tel Aviv carrying 141 passengers.

An terrorist attack on Israelis was prevented earlier this year in Bulgaria when a bomb was discovered at the last moment in the baggage compartment of a bus carrying Israeli tourists. Earlier this month, the authorities in Cyprus arrested a man on the suspicion that he planned a terrorist attack on Israeli passenger aircraft. The arrested man was a Lebanese citizen who entered Cyprus on a Swedish passport.

Burgas has become one of the most popular tourist destinations for Israelis in recent years, especially after Turkey was wiped off the tourist map.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 18, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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