New DNA identified among remains of AMIA attack

Forensic experts in Argentina have verified the existence of a genetic profile that does not match any of the 85 known victims of the attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, allowing progress in the hypothesis of the existence of a suicide bomber, sources reported. legal.

Experts from the Forensic Medical Corps of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and the University of Buenos Aires presented to members of the Fiscal Unit in charge of investigating the attack – which has not yet been clarified – the conclusions of the study carried out. on samples recorded as part of the investigation into the attack.

Among the findings, as reported by the Public Prosecutor's Office on its official website, it was confirmed that all the profiles of the samples analyzed by the Federal Police matched all of the registered victims, with the exception of one.

So the prosecutor's team is working from this profile and corresponding samples to confirm whether the suicide bomber who blew up the building with a car bomb was Lebanese Ibrahim Hussein Berro, a 21-year-old Hezbollah activist, as the investigation said. .

“At the central level, in light of the hypothesis of a suicide bomber, they have already taken the relevant measures in the field of international cooperation to try to compare the profile obtained with that corresponding to samples of relatives of the individual suspected,” adds the text. diffuse.

The objective is to carry out “a comparison with a significant probability of connection”, without prejudice to this, “alternative hypotheses” and part of the work of reconstructing the immediate moments of the attack are also evaluated.

Prosecutors Roberto Salum, Leonardo Filippini and Santiago Eyherabide also decided to examine parts of the truck involved in the attack and items seized in the case to assess the presence of genetic profiles that “complement or add information » scientifically proven. supported.

In their report, the result of a two-year investigation, the forensic experts also confirmed the identification of the man who, until a few months ago, was the only unidentified person to die in the attack, although found his body.

This is Augusto Daniel Jesús, who died in the attack like his mother.

The Jewish community attributes the planning and execution of the attack to Iran and the Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah.

The list of suspects in the attack includes former Iranian President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani – who died in January 2017 -, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayatí, former Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, former Minister of Information Ali Fallahijan and former government advisor Mohsen Rezai.

Also former Iranian Embassy Attaché in Buenos Aires Moshen Rabbani, former diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari and former Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for African Affairs of Iran Hadi Soleimanpour.

The attack on AMIA was the second attack on Jewish targets in Argentina, after 29 people were murdered in 1992 when a bomb exploded outside the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, which also remains unsolved.

In January 2015, Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor leading the investigation, was found dead, shot in the head, days after accusing then-President Cristina Fernández de Kishner of allegedly covering up Iranians suspected of the attack.

The prosecutor, of whom it is not known whether it was a suicide or a homicide, based his complaint – reopened last December after having been rejected several times – on the memorandum signed between Argentina and the Iran in 2013 and which he said involved hiding the suspects in exchange for promoting the commercial exchange of Argentine grain for Iranian oil.

However, Fernández de Kirchner and his entourage have consistently denied this claim.

In addition, another procedure is underway to try twelve people, including former president Carlos Menem (1989-1999), for numerous irregularities detected during the first trial opened for the attack against AMIA, which ended concluded with the declaration of nullity of the entire investigation and the acquittal of the accused police officers. EFE and Aurora