Bulgarian Interior Minister Assuages Fears of Terror Threat

The July 2012 bus bombing at the airport in Burgas killed seven, including five Israeli tourists, the Bulgarian bus driver and the alleged suicide bomber. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetlin Yovchev, is firm his Ministry has not received any information or data about a real threat from a planned terrorist attack against the country.

Speaking for the media Friday, he noted that some classified information included certain data on risks and dangers, but there were absolutely no concrete details and facts.

"These reports are so general that there is nothing in them to check. They are of the sort: someone, somewhere, might be planning something against Bulgaria. This is not serious. Information about terror attacks must be examined, expanded, clarified, so that there is concrete evidence to enable the planning of specific actions, to check the source of this information. Only when this is fully completed, this information can be taken into account. Once again, I declare that there is currently no real terrorist threat for Bulgaria. There are risks, but we take them into serious consideration and work hard to provide adequate security," Yovchev assured.

Just one day earlier, Chief Prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov, stated the Bulgarian prosecution has requested the extradition of two suspects for the 2012 Burgas bus bombing and charges against them shall be filed in the Burgas District Court by March 2014.

In July 2013, the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior for the first time revealed the names of two suspects for the July 2012 terror attack, which killed 5 Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian bus driver, and a presumed suicide bomber.

Those are Australian citizen Meliad Farah, aka Hussein Hussein, and Canadian citizen Hassan El Haj Hassan.

In July 2012, the two used false identities to register at Bulgarian hotels.

"We know the countries where those two suspects are located. At present we are conducting actions to identify their third accomplice," said Chief Prosecutor Tsatsarov Thursday.

At an international security conference in Sofia Wednesday, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev described the Burgas bus bombing as "Bulgaria's September 11."

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