An attempted armed robbery of a security van in the Bulgarian town of Sredets on Monday morning left one of the attackers dead.

Two armed youths attacked the security van which was parked in front of the post office in the centre of the town.

The vehicle was transporting money allocated for the payment of pensions in the town.

A security guard shot dead one of the attackers, while the other fled the scene, but was later caught by the police.

The attackers were identified as twenty-year-old cousins from Burgas and Chernomorets.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been several bank robberies across the country, including in Sofia and Burgas.

In each of the cases, the robbers stole around BGN 170 000, with the perpetrators still not having been identified.