Sat, Nov 21 2009

Second bomb in Sofia in a week, but no explosion

Tue, Feb 24 2009 13:26 CET byPetar Kostadinov 1877 Views 1 Comment
Second bomb in Sofia in a week, but no explosion

Photo: Georgi Kozhouharov

An explosive device which accidentally did not go off was found in the centre of Sofia in the early hours of February 24 2009, the Interior Ministry said.

At 7.08am, the manager of Planet night club on Oborishte street, between Alexander Nevsky cathedral and Vassil Levski Boulevard, called the police about a suspicious package left outside the place.

Police immediately sealed off the area with the bomb squad sent in to secure the package. It was later identified to be an explosive device. Perpetrators have tried to set it on fire, but failed, police said.

If the 400 gram device had went off, it would have been one of the biggest blasts in Sofia's downtown. The results are hard to predict given that the traffic is extremely intense 24 hours a day in that area of the city.

Fortunately, the fuse failed to produce a flame and extinguished itself, police said.

This would have been the second blast outside a popular night club in Sofia in the past week.

An explosive device placed outside the entrance of Cafe Nero in Sofia's Ivan Vazov residential district went off soon after the restaurant closed in the early hours of February 18 2009.

No one was injured in the blast, which caused minor damage to surrounding buildings. The same as Planet night club, Cafe Nero, on Vitosha Boulevard and Yanko Zabounov Street, is noted in the neighbourhood for customarily being surrounded by clusters of dark-coloured luxury vehicles parked close to the entrance.

Comments

Anonymous Christine Tue, Feb 24 2009 17:46 CET
Inappropriate comment?

I walk past here twice a day to work and back and it has always been in the back of my mind that it's only a matter of time before something like this happens. In the evenings the flash cars are double or even triple parked outside even though this is the heart of Sofia, right next to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and parking is banned. If a bomb does go off here a lot of children could be hurt - it's right next door to the Alliance language school where dozens of children take private lessons. It doesn't bear thinking about.

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