Bulgaria bomber tried to rent car

20 Jul 2012, 8:59 pm   -   Source: AAP

Authorities are looking for clues to the bomber who attacked a Bulgarian bus, by using his fingerprints, DNA and a fake Michigan driver's licence.

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A suspected suicide bomber who attacked a bus full of Israeli tourists, killing six and wounding at least 30, had tried to rent a car but was turned down because his ID looked dubious, a Bulgarian prosecutor says.

Authorities are looking for clues to his identity using his fingerprints, DNA and a fake American driver's licence.

Security camera footage from before the attack showed the man wandering in and out of the terminal, wearing a baseball cap over long hair, T-shirt and plaid shorts, with a bulky backpack believed to contain the bomb.

Israel was quick to blame Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah for the attack and a US official said on Thursday night Hezbollah was believed to be responsible.

Prosecutor Kalina Chapkanova said in a TV interview that a man believed to be the bomber had earlier tried to rent a car in the town of Pomorie, near the site of the bombing.

She said the owner of the rental agency described him as having short hair, and became suspicious of his licence and refused to conclude the deal.

Chapkanova quoted the agency owner as saying the suspect spoke English with a "specific" accent.

"The owner said the man had a short haircut, while the photo on the licence showed a man with long hair," Chapkanova said.

"The owner said that there was nothing suspicious in the behaviour of the suspect. He has been very calm and even the failure of the deal did not upset him."

The victims of the attack included the Bulgarian bus driver and five Israelis, including a pregnant woman.

The attack occurred shortly after the Israelis boarded a bus outside the airport in the Black Sea resort town of Burgas, a popular destination for Israeli tourists.

Burgas is about 400 kilometres east of the capital, Sofia.

In a statement late on Thursday, the international police agency Interpol announced it was sending a team to help Bulgarian authorities.

It said it would be essential to find out whether any of the false documents the bomber carried had been entered into the database of the France-based organisation.

There are more than 33 million entries in that data base - 2.5 million of them stolen or lost US passports.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the bombing "was carried out by Hezbollah, the long arm of Iran."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the accusation "baseless," saying it was aimed at diverting world attention from Israel's role in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.

Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said the backpack contained the bomb, which detonated in the luggage compartment of the bus.

The bomber was believed to have been about 36 years old and had been in the country between four and seven days, Tsvetanov said without elaborating.

Officials were using DNA samples to try to establish his identity. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told reporters a Michigan driver's licence was retrieved but US officials say there was "no such person in their database."

Michigan is home to one of the largest Arab communities in the US.

Bulgarian television aired footage of the licence showing the name of Jacque Felipe Martin with an address in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Michigan officials said they told the FBI no one by that name had a valid Michigan licence and that out-of-state residents can't be issued one anyway.

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