20-Jul-12: US says Hezbullah and its primary sponsor Iran executed the Burgas, Bulgaria, killings

Ben Gurion airport last night

From the New York Times

Hezbollah Is Blamed for Attack on Israeli Tourists in Bulgaria BURGAS, Bulgaria: | American officials on Thursday identified the suicide bomber responsible for a deadly attack on Israeli vacationers here as a member of a Hezbollah cell that was operating in Bulgaria and looking for such targets, corroborating Israel’s assertions and making the bombing a new source of tension with Iran. One senior American official said the current American intelligence assessment was that the bomber, who struck Wednesday, killing five Israelis, had been “acting under broad guidance” to hit Israeli targets when opportunities presented themselves, and that the guidance had been given to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group, by Iran, its primary sponsor. Two other American officials confirmed that Hezbollah was behind the bombing, but declined to provide additional details.

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Gloating Ahmadinejad hints at Iranian responsibility for Burgas terror attack  [Source] Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gloated publicly on Thursday over the deaths of Israelis in a terror bombing in Bulgaria, and hinted that Iran was responsible for the attack. Speaking hours after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had publicly blamed the bombing Wednesday at Bulgaria’s Burgas airport on “Hezbollah, directed by Iran,” Ahmadinejad described the attack as “a response” to Israeli “blows against Iran.” “The bitter enemies of the Iranian people and the Islamic Revolution have recruited most of their forces in order to harm us,” he said in a speech reported by Israel’s Channel 2 TV. “They have indeed succeeded in inflicting blows upon us more than once, but have been rewarded with a far stronger response.” He added: “The enemy believes it can achieve its aims in a long, persistent struggle against the Iranian people, but in the end it will not. We are working to ensure that.  Ahmadinejad’s speech was interpreted in Israel as asserting that the Burgas bombing was a revenge attack for the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists, for which Iran has repeatedly blamed Israel.

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This morning at Petah Tikva's Segula cemetery 

Iran condemns Burgas terror attack, calls Israeli accusations ‘ridiculous’  [Source] Iran’s state TV rejected accusations of Tehran’s involvement in the attack. A commentary on the TV website called the claims by Netanyahu and others “ridiculous” and “sensational.” The website described the Israeli charges as attempts to discredit Iran and its allies such as Syria.His remarks contrasted with a condemnation of the Burgas bombing by the Iranian Foreign Ministry earlier Thursday. “The Islamic republic, the biggest victim of terrorism, believes terrorism endangers the lives of innocents… is inhumane and so strongly condemns” it, the Arabic-language television channel Al-Alam cited foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying. “Iran’s position is to condemn all terrorist acts in the world,” he added.

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Thousands attend funerals of Burgas bombing victims