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Hezbollah hits out after Bulgaria bus bomb report | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Hezbollah has rejected a Bulgarian investigation that blamed it for a deadly 2012 bus bombing which killed five Israeli tourists and a bus driver. | Hezbollah has rejected a Bulgarian investigation that blamed it for a deadly 2012 bus bombing which killed five Israeli tourists and a bus driver. |
The Lebanese Shia group's deputy leader said Israel was waging an "international campaign" against Hezbollah that would have no effect. | |
The Bulgarian report said two suspects were members of Hezbollah's armed wing. | The Bulgarian report said two suspects were members of Hezbollah's armed wing. |
The report prompted Israel's PM to call for Hezbollah to be banned as a terror group by EU nations. | The report prompted Israel's PM to call for Hezbollah to be banned as a terror group by EU nations. |
Benjamin Netanyahu said the group had built a "worldwide terrorist" network and was planning attacks in two dozen countries. | |
Speaking a day after Bulgarian politicians and European police experts said the bomb plot had "obvious links" to Hezbollah, the group's deputy leader strongly denied the accusation. | |
The Bulgarian report was part of "allegations and incitements and accusations against Hezbollah" driven by Israeli paranoia over Hezbollah's continued military strength in southern Lebanon, he said. | |
"All these accusations against Hezbollah will have no effect, and do not change the facts," Naim Qassem said, according to Reuters news agency. | |
"We will not submit to these pressures and we will not change our priorities. Our compass will remain directed towards Israel." | |
Israel was quick to blame Hezbollah and Iran for the bus bombing in Burgas, on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. | |
Tehran has always denied involvement, but Hezbollah has made no comment until now. | |
In Bulgaria, the country's foreign minister defended the Hezbollah allegation on Wednesday as commentators questioned whether Sofia had enough evidence to be certain of its claim. | |
"If Bulgaria did not have enough arguments to announce yesterday that the traces in this attack lead to Hezbollah's military wing, we would not have done it," Nikolay Mladenov told a TV station. | |
Analysts had questioned how Bulgaria's police and government were confident enough of their evidence to make the link to Hezbollah. | |
The country inevitably "relied heavily on resources from foreign security services" Tihomir Bezlov from the Centre for the Study of Democracy, a Sofia think-tank, told the AFP news agency. | |
Others described Bulgaria's decision to accuse Hezbollah as part of a wider "game" linked to various conflicts in the Middle East, AFP reported. |
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