January 18, 2013

(JTA) — Bulgaria’s government has no evidence that Hezbollah was behind an attack on Israelis in Burgas last year, a Bulgarian news site reported.

Thursday’s report on 24chasa.bg came shortly after Nikolai Mladenov, Bulgaria’s foreign minister, paid a surprise visit to Israel to brief leaders on its probe into a bombing in the Black Sea resort of Burgas last July.

Jerusalem blamed the suicide attack, which killed seven Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian, on Lebanon’s Hezbollah guerrillas and Iran. 

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not disclose the details of the meeting with Mladenov. 

According to the report, Bulgarian authorities have identified as a suspect an Arab accomplice in the bombing who has a past link to al-Qaida. 

A Bulgarian finding that Hezbollah was linked to the attack could lead to its classification as a terrorist group in the European Union.

Congress has in recent weeks called on European bodies to join the United States, Israel, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in designating Hezbollah as terrorist. 

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