Bulgaria denies reports of homegrown terror activity

Sofia's National Security Agency says there is no indication Burgas terrorist was assisted by local cell. Probe finds terrorist used 3kg of TNT

News agencies |Last update: 07.20.12 , 21:55

Bulgaria's State Agency for National Security (DANS) denied Friday media reports suggesting that an active terror cell on Bulgarian soil assisted the Burgas terrorist in his attack on Israeli tourists.

Seven people were killed, five of them Israelis, and 32 others were injured on Wednesday, when a suicide bomber targeted a bus full of Israelis in a terminal of the Black Sea city's airport.

Related stories:

The identity of the suicide bomber is still unknown. He was found to be carrying a fake American passport, and the United States, Israel and Bulgaria are cooperating closely on the investigation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Hezbollah, acting as Iran's proxy, carried out the attack. The Pentagon backed the theory, saying that "The attack on a bus carrying Israelis at a Bulgarian airport does bear the hallmarks of Hezbollah."

The Sofia News Agency reported that DANS had no intelligence indicating that the terrorists was "assisted by an organized terrorist group active in Bulgaria.

"The terrorist most probably relied on the support of assistants and the logistics of the bomb plot was handled by one or two people who entered and left the country repeatedly," a DANS statement was quoted.

The bus (Photo: Avigdor Stern)

Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov told the local BNT television channel Friday that so far, Sofia's investigation into the terror attack has derived that the suicide bomber used three kilograms of trinitrotoluene explosives, commonly known as TNT.

Bulgaria President Rossen Plevneliev held a press conference Friday, in which he said the Burgas bus bombing was "a European problem."

"Bulgaria must have a more adequate response to present-day security risks," he said.

"What I can guarantee is that this horrible terrorist act will make the democratic world even stronger. The only way to be adequate to threats in the 21st century is to stay united," he added.

EU leaders "are resolved to use all the power, competence and solidarity of the European institutions" to fight terror," Plevneliev said.