A screen grab of video footage from Wednesday's bombing of a bus carrying Israelis in Bulgaria. Photo: YouTube.

U.S. officials say the suicide bomber who exploded a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria on Wednesday was a member of Hezbollah, corresponding with initial statements on the perpetrator by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the New York Times reported.

According to intelligence information from a senior U.S. official, the bomber was “acting under broad guidance” from the Iran-funded terrorist group to strike Israeli targets abroad in retaliation from the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists. Iran has blamed Israel and the West for the assassinations, but neither has verified that information.

“This was tit for tat,” the U.S. official, whose account was confirmed to the Times by two other officials, said of the attack in Bulgaria.

Earlier, Netanyahu called the attack that killed five Israelis “part of a global campaign of terror carried out by Iran and Hezbollah.”