Bulgaria Denies Report It Blamed Hezbollah for Burgas Bombing

Bulgaria has officially denied a report that it has blamed Lebanon's Hezbollah movement for last year's terror attack in the Black Sea city of Burgas.

The report that Bulgaria had blamed Hezbollah for the Burgas bus bombing was made by the Israeli TV Channel 2 in the aftermath of news that Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, has been on a visit to Israel. It was claimed that Mladenov presented a report that confirmed Hezbollah's involvement in the terror attack.

However, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vesela Cherneva said Friday that Mladenov presented no report whatsoever while in Israel.

"Minister Mladenov was indeed in Israel yesterday. A variety of bilateral topics were discussed during his visit. Needless to say, the investigation of the terror attack was also mentioned. This is part of our agenda, but the results from the investigation are not ready to be announced," Cherneva told the Bulgarian National Radio.

Cherneva noted that Mladenov discussed with Israeli officials the upcoming events that will mark the 70th anniversary since Bulgaria's historic rescue of 50 000 Jews from Nazi concentration camps.

The bombing at the Burgas airport killed 5 Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian bus driver and the perpetrator of the attack.

While Israel blamed Hezbollah and its sponsor Iran for the attack, the Bulgarians have not yet issued their final report on the matter.

The conclusions of the report are expected to have a significant impact on whether the EU finally adds Hezbollah to its list of terrorist organizations, something the US has already done and which Israel has been pushing for more than a decade. Such a move could lead to the freezing of Hezbollah's assets in Europe.