11th Anniversary of Burgas Bus Bombing

Jerusalem, 18 July, 2023 (TPS) -- SOFIA, 18.07.2023 (BTA)
Six people died and 35 were injured in the bombing of a tourist bus at Burgas Airport on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast on July 18, 2012. Among the victims were the Bulgarian bus driver and five Israeli tourists who had just arrived from Tel Aviv on a chartered flight.

The suicide bomber was identified as Mohamad Hassan El Husseini, of Lebanese and French citizenship. He had entered Bulgaria on false identity as Jacques Felipe Martin.

After a four-year investigation, the case for the bombing reached the court stage in 2016 but the trial did not start until 2018. Nearly 100 experts reports were prepared and 200 witnesses questioned.

The attack is widely believed to be the responsibility of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Meliad Farah, 35, of Australian and Lebanese citizenship, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 28, of Canadian and Lebanese citizenship, were charged with terrorism, murder of 6 persons (five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver), attempted murder of 35 persons, and damage to property (the destruction of the bombed bus and another one that was parked nearby).

The two were tried in absentia and in 2023, were sentenced to life imprisonment without commutation. The court also granted the civil claims of the victims’ families for a total of $115 million.

Farah and Hassan are still on the Interpol wanted list.