Bus full of Israelis blown up in Bulgaria. Iran most likely responsible.

[Direckshun]

****ing heartbreaking.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8IIHKP20120718

Israel blames Iran for Bulgaria bus bomb that kills 6
Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:25pm EDT

By Stoyan Nenov

BURGAS, Bulgaria, July 18 (Reuters) - Six people were killed in a bomb attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at a Bulgarian airport on Wednesday and Israel accused Tehran of carrying out the attack, promising a strong response to "Iranian terror".

Body parts were strewn across the ground and mangled metal hung from the bus's torn-back roof. Its windows were blown out and surrounded by scorch marks, as clouds of dense black smoke billowed above the airport.

"We heard a very strong blast. The bus was full with people and children. Flesh and blood everywhere," a Bulgarian witness told TV7 television. "I saw another bus catching fire from the one that exploded. It was complete chaos."

The tourists had arrived on a charter flight from Israel and were on the bus in the car park outside Burgas airport when the blast ripped through the double-decker. By late evening, the airport was still sealed off and closed as authorities tried to pin down exactly what had happened.

"We sat down and within a few seconds we heard a huge boom and we ran away. We managed to escape through a hole on the bus," Aviva Malka told Israeli Army Radio from the scene.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov told Reuters by telephone after visiting the airport: "The explosion was caused by a bomb in the bus."

The Interior Ministry declined to comment on whether it might have been a suicide attack, as some witnesses had speculated, and said it was questioning people who had been close to the blast.

The blast comes on the 18th anniversary of a 1994 bomb attack on the headquarters of Argentina's main Jewish organisation by an Iranian-backed Hezbollah suicide bomber, which killed 85 people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran and said Israel would respond.

"All the signs lead to Iran. Only in the past few months we have seen Iranian attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and other places," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"Eighteen years exactly after the blast at the Jewish community centre in Argentina, murderous Iranian terror continues to hit innocent people. This is an Iranian terror attack that is spreading throughout the entire world. Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror," he said.


VULNERABLE TARGET

Israeli officials had previously said that Bulgaria, a popular holiday destination for Israeli tourists, was vulnerable to attack by Islamist militants who could infiltrate via Turkey.

The incident was not reported by Iranian media and there was no immediate Iranian reaction to the Israeli accusation.

Israeli diplomats have been targeted in several countries in recent months by bombers who Israel said struck on behalf of Iran.

Although Tehran has denied involvement, some analysts believe it is trying to avenge the assassinations of several scientists from its nuclear programme, which the Iranians have blamed on Israel and its Western allies.

Israel has threatened air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomatic efforts fail to rein in its programme. Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of working towards a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says its research is strictly for peaceful ends.

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the bomb could have been stuck on the side of the bus - the way an attack on an Israeli embassy car in India was carried out in February.

"The Revolutionary Guard are behind the attack ... I don't want to say unequivocally, but they are behind it directly or indirectly," Lieberman told Channel 2 television, without elaborating on the Iranian military unit.

Bulgaria raised security at all airports, bus and railway stations after the explosion. Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova also boosted policing at public places linked to the Jewish community in Bulgaria's capital.

The blast damaged several other buses in the car park outside the airport at Burgas, where they were waiting to ferry tourists to resorts along the Black Sea coast. Stunned travellers hugged one another in shock at the carnage and passengers were kept away from the scene with a police cordon.


"COMPLETELY OUTRAGEOUS"

Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry said six people had been killed, including one who died in hopsital. Thirty-two people were in hospital, three of whom were in intensive care.

Israel said seven people had been killed. Bulgarian Police have declined to give the nationality of the dead. A TV station in Bulgaria said a Bulgarian may have been killed.

Israeli Rabbi Haim Tverdovich based in Burgas told Israeli Channel 2 some of the wounded had suffered severe burns.

U.S. President Barack Obama called the attack "completely outrageous". "The United States will stand with our allies, and provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack," he said.

In a telephone call with his Israeli counterpart, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov vowed to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Israel has sent security officials to help with the investigation and its military was sending two planes to Burgas, one with medical crews to provide assistance to the injured and fly them home and another with forensic experts. A third plane with medics from the emergency services was also on its way.

Burgas is Bulgaria's fourth largest city and lies on the Black Sea coast some 60 km (40 miles) from the border with Turkey. It is at the centre of a string of seaside resorts which are popular for their sunshine and low cost compared with many parts of the Mediterranean.

With a population of about 200,000, it is also an important industrial centre and has Bulgaria's sole oil refinery.

"Such a terrifying act on the territory of a sovereign country, member of the EU, is a provocation to the efforts of the democratic community for achieving world peace," said Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov.

The chief mufti of Bulgaria's Muslims, who account for about 10 percent of the Balkan country's 7.4 million population, also condemned the attack, as did the EU and British and French foreign ministers.

Burgas airport was closed after the incident and flights were redirected to the airport of Varna, police said. Tourists were stranded at the airport as it was checked for other explosive devices, Focus news agency reported.

Israel's flag carrier El Al cancelled its flight from Tel Aviv to Sofia that was due to leave at 1600 GMT a spokeswoman told Reuters. Nothing had been decided about Thursday's flights.

[Donger]

Can't be. Frankie told me that Iran doesn't carry out terrorist attacks.

[Rain Man]

The unfortunate reality is that this is what happens when nuclear scientists in Iran are murdered on the streets.

[vailpass]

How much more does Israel need before they unilaterally move on Iran?

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

The unfortunate reality is that this is what happens when nuclear scientists in Iran are murdered on the streets.

Iranian nuclear scientists are murdered on the streets because incidents like this happen.

[notorious]

So, is it the chicken or the egg?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

The unfortunate reality is that this is what happens when nuclear scientists in Iran are murdered on the streets.

Are you being facetious?

[Aries Walker]

Originally Posted by vailpass

How much more does Israel need before they unilaterally move on Iran?

Considering Iran has twice the GDP, 10 times the population, and 80 times the land area as Israel, I'd imagine quite a bit.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Donger

Are you being facetious?

No, not at all. You don't think this is retaliatory? I don't think there were attacks on civilians in the recent past.

Don't get me wrong, Iran needs a really good plague, but when you attack civilians, your civilians get attacked. That's how it typically works.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by notorious

So, is it the chicken or the egg?

If Iran, Palestine, et al verifiably abandoned all attacks on Israel today the Jews would keep to themselves and leave the arabs alone.

If Israel verifiably abandoned all attacks on Palestine, Iran, etc. today the arabs would redouble their attacks on Israel.

That's all I need to know.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by vailpass

If Iran, Palestine, et al verifiably abandoned all attacks on Israel today the Jews would keep to themselves and leave the arabs alone.

If Israel verifiably abandoned all attacks on Palestine, Iran, etc. today the arabs would redouble their attacks on Israel.

That's all I need to know.

I would agree with this.

The Iranian people need to figure out how to get those nutjobs out of power. It's really unfortunate that the uprising a couple of years ago didn't flower. I wonder what, if anything, we were doing to help it along.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I would agree with this.

The Iranian people need to figure out how to get those nutjobs out of power. It's really unfortunate that the uprising a couple of years ago didn't flower. I wonder what, if anything, we were doing to help it along.

Agreed. That, to me, is the bitch of this. By most accounts a large percentage of the Iranian people aren't the murderous stone-age savages that their leaders are. I don't want to see them bombed into the dirt like I do their government.

Yet, like the taliban and the other homicidal nutbag coalitions in the middle east, the majority stands by while atrocities are committed. It's that All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing thing and it leads me to not feel so sorry for them.

[Aries Walker]

I think we were really, really hoping it succeeded, but keeping our fingers out of that pie. We do not have a really stellar track record influencing any of the major three traditional powers in the middle east, and at the time we were too busy being criticized for screwing up one of the other two for thirty years.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by Aries Walker

I think we were really, really hoping it succeeded, but keeping our fingers out of that pie. We do not have a really stellar track record influencing any of the major three traditional powers in the middle east, and at the time we were too busy being criticized for screwing up one of the other two for thirty years.

Why can't Russia do us a solid there? They owe us a couple don't they?

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

No, not at all. You don't think this is retaliatory? I don't think there were attacks on civilians in the recent past.

Don't get me wrong, Iran needs a really good plague, but when you attack civilians, your civilians get attacked. That's how it typically works.

Oh, I think it's retaliatory. But, I make a HUGE distinction between a bunch of Israeli civilian tourists and Iranian physicists working on a potential physics package which would be an existential threat to Israel.