At least 7 killed, 20 injured

Jerusalem, July 18 — A terrorist attack on a bus carrying young Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria Tuesday killed at least seven people on board and injured at least 20 more, several critically, according to the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry and Israeli Police.

The tourists had landed at Burgas’ Sarafovo Airport on a flight from Tel Aviv and had just boarded buses to travel to the city’s Globus Hotel. Bulgarian media said 44 people were on the vehicle at the time of the explosion, about 5:30 p.m. local time. All of the buses were still in the airport terminal.

Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov said explosives had been placed in the trunk of the bus. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has set up a special team in its situation room to monitor the events, according to Israel’s Ynetnews.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Iran, saying, “Iran is responsible for the terror attack in Bulgaria. We will have a strong response against Iranian terror.”

An Israeli who witnessed the event said he saw one of the buses carrying the Israeli tourists burst into flames.

Channel 10 screenshot

Burgas, which lies along the Black Sea, is Bulgaria’s fourth-largest city and is a known cultural and tourist hub.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Argentine Jewish Centre in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people were killed and more than 600 were injured in Argentina’s largest terrorist attack. No one has ever been charged in connection with the bombing, but evidence has pointed to involvement by Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah.

The explosion occurred just months after attacks on Israeli embassy employees in Tbilisi, Georgia and Delhi, India, in which explosive devices were planted in embassy cars. Last weekend, there was a thwarted attacked on Israeli targets in Cyprus last weekend. In January, the Times of Israel reported, the Israeli Foreign Ministry warned of possible terror threats against Israelis traveling to Bulgaria.

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