The Bulgarian Interior Ministry Thursday released the names and pictures of a Canadian and an Australian wanted for the July 2012 Hezbollah terrorist bombing of a bus in Burgas that killed five Israelis and a Bulgarian, while injuring 35 others.
“The authorities are sending an appeal for cooperation…regarding two individuals, who are suspected of having link with the bombing,” the ministry said in a statement. They are identified as Meliad Farah (a.k.a Hussein Hussein), age 32, and an Australian national, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 25, Canadian national.
Both men were spotted in late June and until mid-July last year in several regions in Bulgaria, including the Sunny Beach resort area, where the used fake identities to register at hotels under the aliases of Brian Jeremiah Jameson, Jacque Felipe Martin and Ralph William Rico..
They are also believed to have rented cars using false names, and Farah was identified as having rented a vehicle in the village of Ravda in July 2012.
Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev refused to comment further on the progress of the investigation of the Burgas bus bombing and on the suspects’ role in the terrorist attack in order not to interfere with the investigation.
He said that “international partners” have handed over information to Bulgarian authorities.
Bulgaria has stated several times that Hezbollah was behind the bombing of the bus with Israeli tourists, an assessment reinforced last week by Interior Minister Yovchev.
The European Union on Monday finally placed the Hezbollah military wing on its list of terrorist groups but did not include the political arm.