Thirty-two Israelis injured in Wednesday’s suicide bombing in Bulgaria landed at Ben Gurion International Airport Thursday afternoon.
Three others whose conditions are too serious to travel remain hospitalized in Sofia.
Israel dispatched two C-130 Hercules airliners to Bulgaria overnight Thursday to transport Israelis injured in Wednesday’s terror attack. A third airliner carried medical staff to evaluate the injured before transport home to Israel.
Five Israelis were killed and 36 wounded in Wednesday’s suicide bombing aboard an airport shuttle bus at Sofia’s Sarafovo Airport. The bus was transporting Israeli tourists who had just landed.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said preliminary investigations point to a suicide bomber carrying a counterfeit U.S. passport and Michigan driver’s license. Airport surveillance cameras identified a male Caucasian with long hair walking around the airport. The condition of his body indicated he may have detonated explosives carried on his person.
Bulgarian, Israeli, CIA and FBI agents are all taking part in the investigation.
Uniformed Israeli soldiers provided security at the scene of the bombing as ZAKA personnel identified the victims’ remains. ZAKA is a humanitarian organization recognized by the Israeli government that retrieves body parts according to Jewish halacha (oral law) for burial. It’s staffed primarily by ultra-Orthodox volunteers.
Wednesday’s attack took place on the 18th anniversary of the massive terror attack on the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, which killed 29 and injured more than 250.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack has all the earmarks of Iran.
“All signs point toward Iran,” Netanyahu said. “Over the last few months we have seen Iran’s attempts to attack Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and other countries.”
“Exactly 18 years to the day after the horrendous attack on the Jewish Community Center in Argentina, deadly Iranian terrorism continues to strike at innocent people. This is a global Iranian terror onslaught and Israel will react firmly to it,” Netanyahu said.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in Israel earlier this week, said she was “deeply saddened and angered” by Wednesday’s terror attack.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms this heinous terrorist attack against innocent civilians. We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their loved ones,” she said.
Clinton said the U.S. is ready to offer assistance to Bulgarian and Israeli authorities so the “perpetrators can be apprehended swiftly and brought to justice for this appalling crime.”
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