Explosion tears through Israeli tour bus at Sarafovo Airport in Burgas; over 30 injured. Israeli mission en route to Bulgaria; Shin Bet suspends flights to region. Bulgarian president: No Mossad warning
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that, "All the signs are pointing to Iran. Only in the past few months we've seen Iran try to target Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Cyprus and more.
America’s ABC News on Thursday reported that Bulgarian officials denied Bulgarian news reports that the Burgas bomber was identified as Mehdi Ghezali. The Atlantic Wire also reported Swedish officials issuing a similar denial.
Earlier on Thursday Bulgarian media had named the suicide bomber who blew up a bus full of Israeli tourists, killing five Israelis and a local bus driver, in the Black Sea resort of Burgas on Wednesday as 36-year-old Ghezali.
The bomber reportedly arrived in Bulgaria five days before the bombing and arrived at the airport via taxi, Channel 2 reported. He was also reportedly given the bomb by someone else, but no further details were provided.
Ghezali has a Wikipedia page, which describes him as a Swedish citizen, with Algerian and Finnish origins. He was held at the US’s Guantanamo Bay detainment camp on Cuba from 2002 to 2004, having previously studied at a Muslim religious school and mosque in Britain, and traveled to Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, it says. He was taken into custody on suspicion of being an al-Qaeda agent, having been arrested along with a number of other al-Qaeda operatives.
"I get on my knees everyday and I'm saying an extra prayer right now," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters after briefing President Barack Obama. "If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it."
Vilsack said the drought was getting worse for hard-hit farmers and the wilting crops will mean higher food prices.
"Part of the problem we're facing is that weather conditions were so good at the beginning of the season that farmers got in the field early, and as a result this drought comes at a very difficult and painful time in their ability to have their crops have good yield," Vilsack said.
Drought conditions now extend over more than 60 percent of the lower 48 states, the government said.
This week's impactful worldwide news … Israel rethinking its regional strategies … Israel: Military raises alert level … U.S. says Iran plans to disrupt oil trade … Ramadan, 21 Days of Mourning, and the 9th of AV .... Koenig: Worldwide economic collapse scenario in a few paragraphs … Are we close to a New Great Depression? … Obama’s new Executive Order challenges First Amendment
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