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.

[stevieray]

saber rattling

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I guess we differ on that, then, because I think it's pretty close.

I used to work in the defense industry back during the Cold War, and worked on highly classified projects. Would I have been an acceptable target for Soviet murder in your eyes?

Depending on how integral you were, maybe.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

Depending on how integral you were, maybe.

He invented Tang for the space program. Is that integral enough?

[vailpass]

Nuclear scientists that are enabling a rogue nation to obtain nuclear weapons are not civilians.

[Brock]

They showed some video of the bomber. A long haired white dude.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by patteeu

He invented Tang for the space program. Is that integral enough?

He's a dead man.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Brock

They showed some video of the bomber. A long haired white dude.

So that's where Mecca has been. This also explains Dane's sudden reappearance.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I guess we differ on that, then, because I think it's pretty close.

I used to work in the defense industry back during the Cold War, and worked on highly classified projects. Would I have been an acceptable target for Soviet murder in your eyes?

I don't see the parallel. We and the Soviets had diplomatic relations at the time, some semblance of "friendly" relations.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Nah it's cool. Obama wants to befriend these vicious nut jobs. Make sure to vote him back in this year and we can all be invaded by our buddies! Yay!

Obama is just as likely to go to war against Iran as the Republicans.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Setsuna

Conventional? War is war woman.

I guess you could call that a war—but it's not a conventional war. They don't want a conventional war is my point. They haven't started one for 2000. They didn't start the Iraq/Iran war either. Terrorism works better for them and they go after Israeli targets.

Palestinians, Arabs, etc have been at war with Israel since they got kicked out and conquered well over 2000 years ago.

That's just not true. First there were no Palestinians back then, the area was part of greater Syria. They're all semitic people too. But they have not been at war with Israel only, for 2000 years. That area has been conquered by outside invaders like the Assyrian Empire, Parthians, Rome and Christian Europe for a time. Then when the Christian Europeans had it they fought over it with the Muslims. The tribes were not always at peace with each other but it wasn't just Israel versus Arabs. So the history there is no different than the marauding tribes in many other ancient areas including Europe. But the Arabs got along better with the Jewish people, with far less anti-semitism than Christian Europe until the UN partitioned it and recognized Israel.

You should look up Lawrence of Arabia ( good guy )and what British and French govts did for their part in creating the conflict.

[patteeu]

And they want nuclear weapons so that they can expand their terrorism war without concern for retaliation. That's why it's important to stop them.

Saying that they haven't started a conventional war with their neighbors is pretty irrelevant.

[patteeu]

Hey Direckshun, remember back in the days when you were so upset about all the "innocent" people we had locked up at Gitmo?

[ForeverChiefs58]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

And you were correcting cosmos of misreading posts or lying? You're a liar too. I never said the Iranian govt was peace "loving." I've admitted they use terrorism on Israeli targets. They have not started a war in over 200 years. Ya' know a conventional one. I said there was no evidence they were developing a nuclear bomb; that terrorism worked better for them. A bomb with their address on it, would only get them completely annihilated in return. Funny how there are more rational and saner voices in the Israeli military than the hysterial right-wing in America.

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

You need to check your history and get your sequences down.

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

I guess you could call that a war—but it's not a conventional war. They don't want a conventional war is my point. They haven't started one for 2000. They didn't start the Iraq/Iran war either. Terrorism works better for them and they go after Israeli targets.



That's just not true. First there were no Palestinians back then, the area was part of greater Syria. They're all semitic people too. But they have not been at war with Israel only, for 2000 years. That area has been conquered by outside invaders like the Assyrian Empire, Parthians, Rome and Christian Europe for a time. Then when the Christian Europeans had it they fought over it with the Muslims. The tribes were not always at peace with each other but it wasn't just Israel versus Arabs. So the history there is no different than the marauding tribes in many other ancient areas including Europe. But the Arabs got along better with the Jewish people, with far less anti-semitism than Christian Europe until the UN partitioned it and recognized Israel.

You should look up Lawrence of Arabia ( good guy )and what British and French govts did for their part in creating the conflict.

This is really very misinformed and wrong.

[ForeverChiefs58]

Direckshun thinks this is "****ing heartbreaking" because it didn't kill more jews

[Aries Walker]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

I guess you could call that a war—but it's not a conventional war. They don't want a conventional war is my point. They haven't started one for 2000. They didn't start the Iraq/Iran war either. Terrorism works better for them and they go after Israeli targets.

Are you saying Iran/Persia hasn't started a war for over 200 years, or 2000? There's a big difference, and by that I mean only one is technically correct, though even that was not for lack of trying.

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

That's just not true. First there were no Palestinians back then, the area was part of greater Syria. They're all semitic people too. But they have not been at war with Israel only, for 2000 years. That area has been conquered by outside invaders like the Assyrian Empire, Parthians, Rome and Christian Europe for a time. Then when the Christian Europeans had it they fought over it with the Muslims. The tribes were not always at peace with each other but it wasn't just Israel versus Arabs. So the history there is no different than the marauding tribes in many other ancient areas including Europe. But the Arabs got along better with the Jewish people, with far less anti-semitism than Christian Europe until the UN partitioned it and recognized Israel.

You should look up Lawrence of Arabia ( good guy )and what British and French govts did for their part in creating the conflict.

No one was at war with Israel, because there was no such thing as Israel back then; Rome basically wiped it out. Jewish people dispersed and took up a little bit of just about every society there was; no one could go to war with them because they weren't gathered in one place, and certainly didn't have an army. Christians, especially the Byzantines, pretty much treated Jews like shit all the time, so a lot of Jews just left. Muslim caliphates treated them pretty well sometimes, giving them special social status and a good amount of intrinsic rights, but other times would slap them with a pogrom or just wipe out entire Jewish communities wholesale, depending on who was in charge.

The upshot is that while Muslim caliphates, if you average it all out, was more accepting of Jews into their society, they certainly weren't friends. Anti-semitism ran pretty much wild thoughout the Middle Ages and far beyond.