BURGAS, Bulgaria - Bulgarian investigators said on Friday that they had managed
to obtain DNA samples from the fingers of the bomber and were checking databases
in an attempt to identify him. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told
parliament he hoped that would be done in 3-4 days.
The interior minister
added that the man who blew up a bus carrying Israeli tourists at a Bulgarian
airport, killing himself and six others, was a foreign national and Sofia was
trying to pin down details with the help of foreign spy services.
Israel
has accused Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists of carrying out Wednesday's
attack at Burgas airport, a popular gateway for tourists visiting Bulgaria's
Black Sea coast. Iran has denied having any involvement.
"We are talking
about a person that is not a Bulgarian citizen," Interior Minister Tsvetan
Tsvetanov told a news conference. "We are exchanging information with our
Israeli colleagues and the other services." Tsvetanov said investigators were
working on several leads, including the possibility that the bomber had an
accomplice, but he denied media reports that a local Hezbollah cell was behind
the bombing.
"Such topics, and such interpretations have not been talked
about or discussed. At the moment we are focused on realistic options," he
said.
The Israeli tourists had arrived in Bulgaria on a charter flight
from Israel and were in the bus in the airport car park when the blast tore
through the vehicle.
Closed-circuit video showed the bomber wore Bermuda
shorts, a blue T-shirt and cap, blending in with other tourists as he roamed the
airport for an hour before blowing up the bus.
Some analysts believe Iran
is trying to avenge the assassinations of several scientists involved in its
controversial nuclear program that it blames on Israel and the United States.
Israeli diplomats have been targeted in several countries in recent months by
bombers who the Jewish state maintained had struck on behalf of
Tehran.
The Bulgarian blast occurred on the 18th anniversary of a bomb
attack on Argentina's main Jewish organization that killed 85 people. Argentina
blamed Iran, which denied responsibility.