At least 5 Israelis were murdered today when a tour bus in Bulgaria filled with Israeli tourists was bombed in a terrorist attack.33 people were reported wounded, 3 of whom are in critical condition. The victims include pregnant women and young children.
Volunteers from Israel's ZACA and Magen David Adom have alre4ady landed and are in Bulgaria.
The attack occurred outside the Sarafovo airport,en route to the Bulgarian resort of Burgas, a destination popular with Israeli tourists. It's uncertain whether the explosives were placed on the bus and then detonated or whether this was a suicide bombing,although Burgas mayor Dimitar Nikolov stated the explosives were placed in the trunk.
Bulgaria, which has a long established Jewish community of 7,000 has good relations with Israel.Bulgarian politicians from all spectrums voiced outrage at the attack.
Today's assault comes in a period when there have several attempts at targeting Israeli civilians by operatives of Iranian proxy Hezbollah, most recently in Cyprus.In fact, just last January, there was an attempt to bomb a bus carrying Israeli tourists from Turkey to Bulgaria,which led Israel to warn Bulgaria about possible Hezbollah attacks on Israelis and on Jews within Bulgaria.
By coincidence or design, the attack occurred on the 18th anniversary of the Hezbollah attack on the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which murdered 85 people.
There's little doubt that Iran is behind today's bombing.Israeli PM Benyamin Netanyahu said that "all signs point to Iran" and said Israel would "respond with force".
Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak promised that Israel will seek retribution for the attack.
“We have been tracking the intentions of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Iranian groups and the Islamic Jihad to carry out attacks across the world for quite some time. We have a long struggle with them, which includes many successes, as well as difficult days. Today is one of those difficult days.
According to my sources, Israel's security committee is already in lock down considering its response.
Stay tuned.
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