US Embassy warns of ‘possible threat’ against bus line in Sofia. Bulgarian PM says there’s no danger

The US Embassy says it has received information of a “possible threat against an unspecified bus line or bus lines” in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia, novinite.com reports.

It has advised US citizens to avoid the area of what has been known for years as Hotel Pliska (Boulevard Tsarigradsko Shose 87).

The message comes two days after the attacks in Brussels that hit the airport of Zaventem and Maelbeek metro station next to EU institutions, killing at least 34 and leaving up to 300 injured.

News website Dnevnik.bg says the threat has been confirmed “unofficially”.

The Interior Ministry’s Chief Secretary Georgi Kostov has said no “real threat” has been registered for citizens in the region, adding the warning in question did not come from the US Embassy but did not elaborate.

Hotel Pliska, located in the eastern Sofia neighborhood of Iztok, is an important transport hub, with a number of buses and trolleybuses stopping nearby and a tram line not far from the area.

Private NOVA TV broadcaster quotes its US correspondent as saying he contacted the US Department of State but was redirected to the Embassy, which told him it was “not familiar with” the case.

Bulgarian PM: ‘Terror Threat’ in Sofia ‘Result of Love Affair’

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov (photo) has dismissed warnings from the US Department of State about a possible attack in the capital Sofia, novinite.com further reports.

“The information… does not match reality,” he has made clear, adding there is no danger to either “residents or guests of Sofia.”

“The checkup found out it was all about unsettled love relations between a Bulgarian and a foreign national,” he has added.

Borisov has also slammed US diplomats for exporting to the public “the information received by their Bulgarian counterparts” and for doing so in an “absolutely unacceptable way”.