Brussels, 24/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - EU home ministers meeting in Nicosia on 23 July all condemned the attack carried out last week (18 July) at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria, against a bus carrying Israeli tourists. There were seven fatalities - five Israeli tourists, the bus driver and the suicide bomber - said Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, who added that such bloodshed cannot be justified under any circumstances. She urged member states to step up airport security and not just security on board aircraft, saying this was something that had to be looked into.
On Monday, during the informal meeting of home ministers, the Bulgarian minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, briefed his European colleagues on the latest developments in the investigation. According to several Bulgarian media reports, the perpetrator of the attack had entered the country through neighbouring Romania, spoke Russian and was accompanied by a woman, AFP reports. So far, the Bulgarian authorities have said the attacker may have been aged around 36, was not Bulgarian and had stayed in the country for at least four days. (SP/transl.jl)