August 9, 2012
Report: Calls between Lebanon and Burgas increased before attack
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A bus that was damaged in a bomb blast on Wednesday is seen outside Burgas Airport, about 400km (248miles) east of Sofia onJuly 19. Photo by REUTERS/Interior Ministry/Handout
Israel has evidence of many telephone calls between Lebanon and Burgas in the two months before the bombing that killed six people, The New York Times reported.
The volume of calls intensified in the three days before the attack on a bus carrying Israeli tourists, the newspaper reported Thursday, citing an unnamed senior government official, pointing the finger even more directly—in Israel’s eyes—at the terror group Hezbollah.
“We know the sources in Lebanon,” although not the identity of those on the other end in Bulgaria, the official told the Times.
Israel placed the blame for the July 18 attack on both Iran and Hezbollah. The United States and Bulgaria reportedly agree with the assessment, but have not said so officially.
The Bulgarian investigation has “largely stalled,” according to The New York Times. The attacker and his accomplices have not yet been identified. Bulgarian officials are hesitant to declare Hezbollah responsible without hard evidence, according to the newspaper.
An unnamed senior security official in Germany was quoted as saying that the European allies are skeptical that Hezbollah was responsible for the attack, speculating that Iran used “individuals with Hezbollah affiliation.”
