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Journalism of Courage
Bulgarian police,the FBI and Interpol are struggling to identify a suicide bomber who killed seven people,including five Israelis,even as the US said the attack bore the hallmarks of Hezbollah.
Investigators have released CCTV footage of the person they believe carried out Wednesdays attack in the Black Sea airport of Burgas on a bus carrying Israeli vacationers.
After two days of investigation,Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov was only able to confirm on Friday that the bomber was not a Bulgarian citizen and had been in the country not less than four days.
Fingerprints and DNA samples from the suspected bombers body were being used in the effort to learn his identity,he added.
The minister also made public on Friday evening some scanty details on the explosive used in the first attack of
its kind in Bulgaria. We are speaking about trotile,about 3 kg. Analyses are continuing, he told state BNT television.
Trotile is made from Trinitrotoluene or TNT – a common ?material in military bombs and also frequently used in attacks by militant groups.
Police officers also focussed new attention on the bombers possible accomplice or accomplices.
He couldnt have been alone,a person alone in an unknown country, said a senior Bulgarian official familiar with the investigation. We believe it took at least a week to organize.
A man with a purported Michigan drivers license,like the bombers,which proved to be a fake,tried to rent a car earlier in the week at a tourist agency in the town of Pomorie. But employees at the agency,Tourist Office Afrodita,said in an interview that he grew nervous when they wanted to photocopy his license and left without renting the car. The police made inquiries at other rental agencies in the city,employees at several locations said.
The intensity of the investigation reflected not only the severity of the crime,but its international significance. Israel immediately blamed Iran and its surrogate,Hezbollah,a charge Iran denied.
American officials identified the suicide bomber as a member of a Hezbollah cell operating in Bulgaria.
The attack does bear some of the hallmarks of Hezbollah,but were not in a position to make any final determination on who was responsible, a Pentagon spokesman,George Little,told reporters.
Israel and Bulgaria meanwhile held emotional funerals for the victims.
