Families of the victims of last month's bomb attack on an Israeli bus that killed six at Bulgaria's Burgas airport gathered Tuesday at Sofia's synagogue to remember the victims.
Several hundred people attended the ceremony, including members of the Jewish community in Bulgaria and politicians from both countries.
They held a minute of silence before lighting a white candle for each of the victims of the July 18 suicide bombing.
"It is not very easy," Izhak Shriky, an engineer whose pregnant wife was killed in the attack, told AFP, his eyes red from crying.
"She was 43, she used to laugh," he said while looking at a picture of the smiling woman on a wall of the synagogue, recalling trips they took together to Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany and Bulgaria.
Shriky was also on the bus when it exploded, killing five Israeli tourists -- including his wife -- and the Bulgarian driver, but he escaped unhurt.
Forty days after the attack, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Bulgarian police have released composite portraits of the suspected bomber and an alleged accomplice via Interpol, but so far no match has been found in international databases for the suspect's fingerprints and DNA.
Speaking at Tuesday's ceremony in Sofia, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon condemned "terrorism, whose origin, planning, financing and arming comes from Iran and is often powered by the cruel Hezbollah."
He noted that one of those injured in the attack and flown back to Israel afterwards was still in critical condition.
Israel blames Iran and its "terrorist proxy" Hezbollah in Lebanon for the attack, the deadliest on Israelis abroad since 2004, but Bulgaria has said there is no evidence of this and Iran has denied any involvement.
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said Tuesday: "We have committed ourselves to finding the culprits and their accomplices."
The victims' families were in Bulgaria for a few days and were to later travel to Burgas, the Black Sea resort where the suicide bombing took place.
During the ceremony, the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) announced that it will include the family of 36-year-old Bulgarian bus driver Mustafa Kyosev among recipients of aid from the Fund for the Victims of Terror in the aftermath of the bus bombing. "Terrorism does not distinguish between blood and blood and from person to person. Killers try to reach any place in the world to attack innocent Jews and Israelis and would not hesitate to kill anyone who stood in their way when they implement their actions," Minister Yaalon said.

EJP