SOFIA: Several schools across Bulgaria were ordered to remain closed on Monday and Tuesday after receiving bomb threats via email with suspected links to Russia, police said.
Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said that the key leaders of investigators is that these are hybrid attacks somehow linked to Russia.
He added that Bulgarian authorities had requested assistance from its partners’ intelligence services- particularly from the United States- to identify the perpetrators of the threats.
The bomb threats via email originated from Google accounts, said authorities.
One such message read: “There are TNT charges placed in all schools. Soon all your schools will be exploded. I hope you die.”
The prosecutor’s office said they were probing a crime against the republic, or terrorism, and was working to establish the source of the threats.
Schools evacuated in capital Sofia
The alerts prompted the evacuation of several dozens of schools in the capital Sofia, the Black Sea cities of Varna and Burgas, Sliven in eastern Bulgaria, and Pleven in northern Bulgaria, causing panic among the public.
So far, no explosives have been found in any of the schools.
Since Monday, 102 total bomb threats have been recorded.
The threats come just days ahead of general elections in Bulgaria on Sunday, with most polling stations being set up in schools.
Yet, polling would go ahead as planned unless some real threat were to arise, Demerdzhiev said.
