Top Diplomat: Terror Act Did Not Target Bulgaria

In the aftermath of the terror attack in Burgas, Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, came under fire for organizing a forum of the Syrian opposition in Bulgaria and for other Middle East policies. Photo by BGNES

The terror attack in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas has been masterminded carefully and in the course of several years, according to Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov.

Speaking Friday in an interview for Nova TV, the country's top diplomat reiterated that the attack did not aim at Bulgaria, but was rather a warning for Israel to demonstrate that Israelis are vulnerable anywhere in the world.

"Our foreign policy has nothing to do with this act. If terrorists targeted Bulgaria they would have attacked Bulgarians and/or Bulgarian facilities as it was the Kerbala case in Iraq," Mladenov said.

The Minister, who has been criticized for organizing a forum of the Syrian opposition in Bulgaria and for other Middle East policies, further voiced full confidence in Bulgarian institutions being able to successfully conclude the probe.

The July 18 terrorist attack in Bulgaria's Burgas, also known as the Burgas Bus Bombing, killed 5 Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver at the Sarafovo Airport. The initial lead was that it has been executed by a suicide bomber, who arrived from abroad.

This lead, however, is looking less and less reliable. One of the reasons is that the bomb is different from those used by suicide bombers, who aim to cause the most damage possible. It was not made with nails and steal balls, which inflict large-scale destruction.

Results from blood testing from the suspect's leg for narcotics content are expected in order to verify the hypothesis that he has been deluded, used as a mule, and acted under the influence of illegal drugs.

Just one day earlier, the former Chief of Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau, Brigadier General Nitzan Nuriel, also stated that the perpetrator of the terrorist attack was not a suicide bomber.