Mansour Receives Complete Report on Burgas Attack Investigation
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour received on Tuesday the complete file on the Burgas investigation report ahead of referring it to the Justice Ministry, reported the National News Agency.
Bulgarian Embassy charge d'affaires Plamen Tzolov handed the minister the file, stressing that Bulgaria is “keen on maintaining its strong ties with the Lebanese state, people, and society.”
He said after meeting Mansour: “The two countries enjoy historic and important ties in all fields.”
“We are not only working on preserving them, but on developing them,” Tzolov added.
“Lebanon has to study the file in order to make a proper response to Bulgaria,” he said.
“Prime Minister Najib Miqati was clear in saying that Lebanon is prepared to cooperate fully with Bulgaria in the investigation,” he added.
Asked about the possibility of handing over the suspects in the Burgas bombing to Bulgaria, he responded: “This issue concerns the Lebanese and Bulgarian justice ministries.”
Asked by reporters how Hizbullah came to be linked to the attack, Tzolov replied: “I have no information on this matter as all information on the issue can be found within the Bulgarian investigation and interior minister.”
“All that has been said has been reported by Bulgarian and Lebanese media,” noted the diplomat.
Five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver were killed in a bus bombing at Burgas airport on the Black Sea in July, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004.
Bulgaria recently formally blamed the attack on Hizbullah, triggering renewed pressure on the European Union to follow Canada, the United States and others in formally designating the movement a “terrorist group.”
The Bulgarian government said two people behind the attack held Canadian and Australian passports, but lived in Lebanon and were members of Hizbullah.
In light of the accusation, Miqati stressed that his government was "ready to cooperate with Bulgaria to shed light on the circumstances" of the attack.
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