Bulgaria foiled a terrorist attack a few months ago, Israeli minister says
Bulgarian services prevented a terrorist attack a few months ago, Israeli minister of tourism Stas Misezhnikov said on July 23 during a visit to Bulgaria.
He said that he had learnt about this at the most recent meeting of the Israeli government.
In recent years a number of terrorist attacks had been foiled and many people’s lives saved, Misezhnikov said, who was on a visit to Bulgaria in the wake of the July 18 terrorist suicide bomb attack against a group of Israeli tourists at Bourgas Airport. In the attack, five Israeli tourists, their Bulgarian bus driver, and an as-yet-unidentified suicide bomber died.
Misezhnikov gave no further details of the earlier attack that had been thwarted.
In January 2012, there were reports that Israel had asked Bulgaria to step up security around Israeli tourists. At the time, the veracity of these reports, alleging that Israeli tourists at Bulgarian winter resorts were being targeted, was called into question.
Meanwhile, Bulgarian Cabinet ministers have been briefing their European Union colleagues on the terrorist attack.
Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, briefed his colleagues at a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers on July 23, an Interior Ministry statement said. Tsvetanov focused on the large-scale international co-operation in the investigation, the statement said.
Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov briefed a July 23 meeting of the EU foreign affairs council on this “first-ever attack of this type on Bulgarian territory”.
Mladenov noted the good work by Bulgaria’s security services with partner agencies as well as with Europol, a Foreign Ministry statement said.
I am grateful for the help in this regard, because our aim is to make a repeat of this situation in Bulgaria and in Europe impossible in the future, he said.
Mladenov said that before the investigation is concluded, Bulgaria would not point an accusing finger at anyone.
(Photo: pib.nic.in)
