Today is the 35th anniversary of the bloodiest railway assassination in Bulgarian history – that of Bunovo Station. The perpetrator is the illegal organization Turkish National Liberation Movement in Bulgaria.
The terrorists planted a bomb in the wagon for killing mothers with children on train number 326 along the Burgas – Sofia line. The explosive device exploded at 9:31 PM. By chance, this happened at the station, not the tunnel because the composition was two minutes late from the schedule. Tre train was supposed to be at Bunovo Station at 8:30 PM and to enter the tunnel at 20:32 PM.
The bomb had a clockwork mechanism. If the train had entered the tunnel, panic and lack of air would had resulted in as many casualties as possible. However due to the maneuvering of Zlatitsa train station, the composition was delayed by two minutes.
The victims of the attack were seven, including two children of 12 and 13 years. Nine people were seriously injured.
The attack killed 12-year-old Georgi Tsvetanov, 13-year-old Stefan Atanasov, 40-year-old Emil Georgiev, 63-year-old Nikolay Genkov and 64-year-old Raina Bozukova. Deaf-mute children returning home and two more random children are part of the whole injured people by the attack.
The minister of Interior Dimitar Stoyanov and the minister of Transport Vasil Tsanov arrived in Bunovo. The wagon was uncoupled. At six o’clock that day the victims and injured people are taken to the surrounding towns and the rest of the passengers are thoroughly checked for the time, place and town when buying the tickets. It was also investigated where passengers got on and what kind of luggage the kept in the wagon. After that checks the train continued to Sofia.
The investigation confirmed that the assassination was the work of a pro-Turkish illegal organization. According to the prosecution, the motives are the actions of the state authorities in the so-called “Revival process”. The three people who were directly involved in it were convicted to death. They were Elin Madjarov (Emin Mehmedali), Alzek Chakarov (Abdulla Chakar) and Sava Georgiev (Saafet Rajab). A few months later in 1988, the judgment was upheld by the National Council of People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the convicts were executed.
Translation: Diana Todorova
