On July 18, 2012, a bus carrying tourists from Israel was blown up at the airport in the Bulgarian city of Burgas. Eight people were killed, including the driver - a citizen of Bulgaria. 32 people were injured of varying severity.
The very first assumption was that a bomb exploded in the luggage compartment of the bus. But information very quickly appeared - the bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber. This conclusion was made during a joint investigation by the authorities of Bulgaria and Israel, as well as by the FBI and CIA.
One of the bodies suffered more from the explosion than others, with a fake US passport and driver's license issued in the state of Michigan found on it.
The investigation did not have any doubts - the suicide bomber carried the explosive device into the bus on himself. At the same time, photographs of the suspect in the commission of this terrorist act, taken from these surveillance cameras, were published. The man in sportswear first waited for about an hour in the airport building, then appeared in the parking lot, where a bus was waiting for Israeli tourists. Then his mutilated body was found at the scene of the tragedy.
The bases of the Bulgarian border service and the FBI had no information about this person. Therefore, DNA samples were collected from the terrorist's fingers. According to the results of the analyzes, it turned out that he turned out to be a citizen of Sweden, Mehdi Yezali, who arrived in Bulgaria just under a fake driver's license.
The Israeli authorities, represented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused the Lebanese group Hezbollah, funded from Iran, of the terrorist attack. In turn, Tehran expressed bewilderment about these accusations.
Meanwhile, the Bulgarian investigation, three weeks after the incident, lost confidence that the terrorist was planning to become a suicide bomber. Perhaps the perpetrator died solely because of his own mistake. He tried to put his backpack in the luggage compartment, as evidenced by one of the victims. She said that her husband got into a skirmish with the terrorist some time before the explosion.
In connection with the new information of the four Israelis, the investigation again decided to summon them for interrogation. In addition, the person declared a terrorist from CCTV cameras was declared not involved in the tragedy.
Today, investigators are sure of two things: that local criminal groups are not involved in the terrorist attack, and that the bomb was assembled near the place of its explosion from components that can be legally purchased in Bulgaria.
