Unknown Group Claims Responsibility for Bulgaria Terror Attack
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows in the US linking Iran to last week’s attack that killed five Israelis, a Bulgarian, and the suicide bomber in Burgas, Bulgaria. A previously unknown group, called the Base of Jihad, claimed responsibility on Saturday. “With Allah’s help and after close surveillance, one of us succeeded in blowing up a Jewish bus in Bulgaria,” the group said in a statement that appeared on a Lebanese website. Israeli officials say they are convinced that Hizbullah, with help from Iran, was behind the suicide bombing. They said the Base of Jihad could be a front for global jihad or for Hizbullah. Bulgarian officials say they have still not confirmed the identity of the suicide bomber, and they now believe he may have had an accomplice. Bulgaria’s Interior Minister said there was no proof that the man was connected to Hizbullah. He said DNA samples taken from the terrorists’s body were sent to US Intelligence agencies but there were no matches to anyone who has been at the Guantanamo prison. The five Israeli dead were buried in emotional funerals on Friday. The one woman killed, Kochava Shriki, 44, had found out that she was pregnant for the first time on the morning she left for Bulgaria. Her husband was wounded in the attack.
Social Protestor Who Set Himself on Fire Dies Hundreds of Israelis held protest vigils after Moshe Silman, who set himself on fire last week at a Tel Aviv demonstration died of his wounds. Silman, 57, who had burns on 90 percent of his body, was buried on Sunday. Silman, who had had a successful business but went bankrupt after unpaid debts, had been living on the street. Last summer, the social protests, which focused on rising prices in Israel and the inability of the middle class to make ends meet, brought hundreds of thousands of Israelis onto the streets. This summer, the protests have been more about drafting ultra-Orthodox seminary students and have been much smaller. Organizers say Silman’s death may galvanize the protest movement.
Egypt's Gas Pipeline Bombed Again An Egyptian security official said gunmen in a small truck drove up to the pipeline in the Sinai desert, which had supplied Israel and Jordan with natural gas, and placed explosive charges under the pipeline. It was the 15th time that the pipeline had been attacked since the start of the uprising which forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign. Company officials said exports of gas to Israel and Jordan were halted in April since an explosion then. Many Egyptians were angry about the deal, which they said gave favorable prices to Israel. Israel is currently developing its own natural gas fields.
Syrian Fighting Intensifies
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 550 people were killed over the weekend as thousands fled the fighting in Syria. A rebel spokesman said fighters have launched an operation to “liberate” the country’s largest city from Syrian soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Assad’s troops also battled rebels in the capital Damascus. Thousands of Syrians fled to Lebanon and Turkey to escape the fighting. Turkish officials said they had closed one of the border crossings between Syria and Turkey after rebels robbed 30 trucks carrying goods from Turkey into Syria. Nine trouchs were set on fire in the attack and food and medicine were stolen from other trucks, they said.
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