Navigate to News section

Bulgaria Bus Bomber Identified Two Years Later

Suicide bomber killed five Israeli tourists and their bus driver in 2012 attack

by
Stephanie Butnick
July 18, 2014
Members of the Israeli rescue and recovery squad collect evidence during investigations at the Airport in Burgas on July 19, 2012, site of a suicide blast targeting Israelis the day earlier. (STR/AFP/GettyImages)
Members of the Israeli rescue and recovery squad collect evidence during investigations at the Airport in Burgas on July 19, 2012, site of a suicide blast targeting Israelis the day earlier. (STR/AFP/GettyImages)

Bulgaria has identified the suicide bomber who blew up a bus full of Israeli tourists on July 18, 2012, killing five Israelis and the bus driver and wounding 35 others, the AP reports. Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini, 23, was a dual Lebanese-French citizen who was born in Lebanon. The announcement, which comes exactly two years after the attack, followed a slow and at times meandering investigation.

In a strange twist, the Bulgaria bombing itself occurred on the 18th anniversary of the deadly bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, in which 85 people were killed and more than 300 were wounded. It was the deadliest attack to ever take place on Latin American soil. The bombing is widely believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah, though there have been no arrests in 20 years.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.