US Embassy Warns of 'Possible Threat' against Bus Line in Sofia

Diplomatic Channel | March 24, 2016, Thursday // 07:37|  views

A file photo of the building in Iztok neighborhood where Hotel Pliska was once located. BGNES

The US Embassy says it has received information of a "possible threat against an unspecified bus line or bus lines" in Bulgaria's capital Sofia.

It has advised US citizens to avoid the area of what has been known for years as Hotel Pliska (Boulevard Tsarigradsko Shose 87).

The message comes two days after the attacks in Brussels that hit the airport of Zaventem and Maelbeek metro station next to EU institutions, killing at least 34 and leaving up to 300 injured.

News website Dnevnik.bg says the threat has been confirmed "unofficially".

The Interior Ministtry's Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov has said no "real threat" has been registered for citiens in the region, adding the warning in question did not come from the US Embassy but did not elaborate.

Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova has assured police presence has been stepped up in the area.

Hotel Pliska, located in the eastern Sofia neighborhood of Iztok, is an important transport hub, with a number of buses and trolleybuses stopping nearby and a tram line not far from the area.

A ten minutes' walk from it is the Fr?d?ric Joliot-Curie metro station.

The announcement has been made not by the Embassy itself, but by the US Department of State's Consular Affairs section which has posted it on its Facebook page. The Embassy's own Facebook and Twitter account do not contain similar messages.

Private NOVA TV broadcaster quotes its US correspondent as saying he contacted the US Department of State but was redirected to the Embassy, which told him it was "not familiar with" the case.

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Tags: Hotel Pliska, US Embassy, Brussels attacks

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