Bulgaria’s chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev has escaped unscathed after a large explosion occurred Monday near his car which the authorities have described as a targeted attack on him.
Attackers had placed a bomb at a bend in the road where traffic had to slow, Borislav Sarafov, head of the National Investigation Service, said according to local news site Mediapool. They detonated the bomb at exactly the moment Geshev’s car went past, he said, describing it as a “professionally prepared attempt, and obviously well executed.”
“The bomb had a large TNT equivalent — about 3 kilograms of TNT, according to experts’ calculations,” Sarafov said. “A crater with a depth of 30-40 centimeters and a diameter of nearly 3 meters was found on the spot.”
“Obviously the bomb was intended to kill,” he said. Nevertheless, there were no injuries.
The Bulgarian interior ministry confirmed that an incident took place, without giving further details, Mediapool reported.
Geshev was the target of widespread protests alongside then-Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in 2020. Protesters accused him of failing to prosecute a corrupt mafia elite that they said had infiltrated the country’s establishment.
No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s alleged attack. Sarafov said forensic investigators had begun working at the scene.
