Burgas Terrorist Attack Planned Outside Bulgaria - Interior Min

The July 18 terrorist attack in Bulgaria's Burgas was planned outside Bulgaria, according to Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov.

The July 18 terrorist attack in Bulgaria's Burgas, also known as the Burgas Bus Bombing, killed 5 Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver at the Sarafovo Airport near Burgas.

"There are other people who participated in the planning and execution of the terrorist attack," Tsvetanov declared on the Bulgarian National TV Wednesday morning, apparently referring to other people in addition to the Burgas bomber that he has described as a "suicide bomber, while investigative journalists and Israeli security officials have stipulated that the bomber was in fact an oblivious "mule" carrying the explosives.

Tsvetanov refused to given any further details about his claim that the Burgas Bus Bombing was planned abroad and involved more people. He did say, however, that the Bulgarian government is exerting its efforts to the fullest, together with its international partners, in order to identify the bomber.

The Bulgarian Interior Minister neither confirmed, nor denied the claim of British Prime Minister David Cameron that the Burgas Bus Bombing was carried out by pro-Iranian group Hezbollah with Iran's backing. At a meeting with Cameron, Bulgarian PM Borisov has requested more details about this claim.

"At present, we are working on several versions about the perpetrator's identity but we cannot reveal information about that," Tsvetanov declared on Wednesday.

He urged the society not to succumb to panic, and said that the Bulgarian intelligence was working so that "everybody can sleep calm".

In his words, a large number of people contacted the Bulgarian police in order to give information about the Burgas Bus Bombing, and this has "burdened" the Interior Ministry because it has check out each one of them.

Tsvetanov, who is also a Deputy PM of Bulgaria, refuted the reports that Bulgaria's State National Security Agency DANS has made warnings of an imminent terrorist attacks in two consecutive reports.

He sought to assure the public that any additional funding for the Bulgarian security services will be used to boost security, rather than for "police brutality and human rights violations", as the public criticism goes.