The 2012 Burgas bus bombing was a terrorist attack carried out by a suicide bomber on a passenger bus transporting Israeli tourists at the Burgas Airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, on 18 July 2012. The bus was carrying 42 Israelis, mainly youths, from the airport to their hotels, after arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv. The explosion killed the Bulgarian bus driver and five Israelis and injured 32 Israelis, resulting in international condemnation of the bombing.
In February 2013, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the Bulgarian Interior Minister, said there was "well-grounded" evidence that Hezbollah was behind the attack. Tsvetanov stated that the two suspects had Canadian and Australian passports and lived in Lebanon. According to the Europol, forensic evidence and intelligence sources all point to Hezbollah's involvement in the blast. Both Iran and Hezbollah have denied any involvement. On 5 June 2013, new Bulgarian Foreign Affairs Minister Kristian Vigenin stated that: "There is no conclusive evidence for the implication of Hezbollah in the July 2012 bombing in Burgas. The authorities continue to gather evidence." However, two weeks later a Bulgarian representative to the European Union revealed that investigators discovered new evidence that implicates Hezbollah operatives were connected to the terrorist attacks. Investigators found that the forged documents used by the perpetrators of the attack were facilitated by a man with ties to Hezbollah. In July 2013, the newly appointed Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev stated: "there are clear signs that say Hezbollah is behind the Burgas bombing."
On 25 July 2013, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry released photographs of two Hezbollah operatives suspected in the bombing: Australian citizen Malid Farah (also known as "Hussein Hussein"), and Canadian citizen Hassan al-Haj. In 2013, and partly in response to the bombing, the EU unanimously voted to list the military branch of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
On 18 July 2014, Bulgaria announced that they identified the bomber as a dual Lebanese-French citizen named Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini.
Attack
Seven people (including the suicide bomber) were killed and at least thirty-two injured in an explosion on an Israeli-operated tour bus at the Burgas Airport in the Black Sea city of Burgas, with a population of some 200,000 people and approximately 400 kilometers (250 mi) east of the capital, Sofia. In addition, two other buses were damaged in the blast.
Bulgarian leaders, including President Rosen Plevneliev, rushed to the site. The Foreign Ministry said authorities believed that the blast was a terrorist attack. According to the initial reports of Bulgarian authorities, the blast was caused by a bomb in a luggage compartment. However, it was later argued by a Bulgarian official that the blast was probably carried out by a male suicide bomber with fake US documents.
An 11-year-old child and two pregnant women were among the injured, while another pregnant woman was killed. Mustafa Kyosev, the Bulgarian bus driver, was also killed at the age of 36.
Survivors of the attack described people being thrown into the air, people shouting and crying, and recalled seeing body parts. The witnesses said that the explosion began at the front of the bus and sent fire down through the vehicle. Some passengers on the bus jumped out of windows to escape.
Two days after the attack, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that the bomb was carried in the backpack of a man who was filmed on security cameras at the airport. Tsvetanov added that the bomb was detonated in the luggage compartment of the bus, and that the blast was caused by 3 kilograms of TNT powder. In 2020, however, the bomb was identified as an ammonium nitrate-based device.
Fatalities
Perpetrator investigations
Following the attack, a probe was launched to determine who was responsible for the attack. Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that the investigation might take years. On 12 August, a probe into the attack concluded that the perpetrator was a suicide bomber, which disproved other possible theories, such as being a deluded drug smuggler. On 17 August, Tsvetanov said that the probe indicated that a country or terrorist organization was responsible for the bus bombing, but did not name any suspects.
Description
On 19 July, Tsvetanov stated that the suspected attacker is seen on security camera tape near the bus for about an hour before the blast and that he had a fake driver's license from the U.S. state of Michigan. The suspected bomber was described as a white male with long hair and wearing glasses.