Bulgarian prosecutors have brought charges of terrorism against two foreign nationals suspected of having helped prepare a suicide bombing of a bus with Israeli tourists at Burgas Sarafovo airport, on the Black Sea coast, four years ago.
Meliad Farah, a holder of Australian and Lebanese citizenship, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, a citizen of Canada and Lebanon, were accused of helping suicide bomber Mohamad Hassan El Husseini detonate an explosive device in the parking area in front of arrivals terminal of the airport in July 2012, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bulgaria said in a statement on Monday.
The blast claimed the lives of five Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian driver of the bus. The remaining 38 Israeli tourists, who were to board the bus to travel to their hotel at Slanchev Bryag seaside resort as well as their guide suffered various injuries in the explosion.
The two defendants will be tried in absentia. They face life imprisonment if convicted.
Meliad Farah and Hassan El Hajj Hassan are wanted by the Bulgarian authorities on an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol, according to the statement.
It was four years on Monday since the suicide bombing at Sarafovo airport.