Bulgaria's police are working on four possible leads in the blast that destroyed the car of popular Bulgarian journalist, Sasho Dikov, Thursday evening.

The main one is the explosion deemed to be the work of extremists, with ties to the opposition, who wanted to influence the October 23 presidential and local elections rather than killing or intimidating Dikov, according to the Bulgarian Trud (Labor) daily.

Dimitar Vuchkov, who is temporarily in charge of the Interior Ministry because Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, is on leave over being the head of the election headquarters of the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, party, is quoted saying that the blast could very well be a pre-election provocation. He has also confirmed a possible connection between the attack on the journalist and the bomb that exploded in front of the offices of Galeria, an anti-government newspaper, early on February 10 in downtown Sofia, again at the time the capital was hosting the visit of several European leaders.

The latest explosion coincided with the trip to the country of the Presidents of the European Commission and of the European Parliament, Jose Manuel Barroso and Jerzy Buzek and of three EU Commissioners.

An unidentified high-ranking employee of the Interior is further cited informing that the authorities are seeking the perps among all political fractions in the lead of the attack being connected with the elections.

The second lead is that the blast is the work of people who are from GERB circles, but have been disappointed by its leadership because they "did not get what they expected," and now want to doom the ruling party to failure in order to trigger changes in political power for personal gains. Dikov is considered by them a suitable target since he is known for his criticism against the government.

The journalist, himself, had commented the explosion is most beneficial for the enemies of the cabinet.

The possibility that the attack has been triggered by Dikov's work as journalist is still on the table.

Police say they are also working on a version that the blast is tied with circles of football fans, angered by broadcasts of the Kanal 3 (Channel 3) TV, of which the journalist is a program director, exposing pre-arranged games and failures of the Bulgarian National Football Team.

The authorities have almost entirely dismissed the possibility of the attack stemming from personal motives.

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