On August 30, 1984, at 5:29 p.m., a bomb was detonated in the waiting room of Plovdiv train station. The explosive device was placed at the back of the hall, by the public telephones, next to a waste bin. One woman was killed and 42 people were injured. The metal roof and some walls in the station were destroyed. After 36 minutes, at 6:05 p.m., a new bomb was detonated in front of the Varna airport building. The explosive device was placed in a concrete flowerbed in the parking lot. Two women were injured. The two attacks were a coordinated terrorist attack by "pro-Turkish" terrorists in the two largest provincial cities in Bulgaria. They were planned to coincide with the visit of the head of state Todor Zhivkov to these cities, recalls the website „Пловдив24“.
The explosive devices are of the same type, made of connected ammonite 6 checkers, about 200 grams each, detonated with an electric fuse powered by a flat 4.5V battery and a clock mechanism - an alarm clock "Slava", placed in a tin can (Varna) and a jar (Plovdiv).
The investigation concludes that the organized in the spring of 1983. The group consisted of 3 terrorists with several helpers. It is claimed that this is the only "pro-Turkish" terrorist group that systematically carried out attacks before and after the escalation of the Revival Process.
Their first appearances were the burning of 750 acres of forest near the Kamchia Dam and agricultural lands, an unsuccessful attempt to sabotage the Karnobat station with the aim of causing a serious train accident.
In the period 1984 - 1987, when the so-called "Revival Process" was underway, 42 illegal "pro-Turkish" groups were discovered in Bulgaria. They are composed of ethnic Turks, some of whom have been officially identified as members of the State Security.
Some of the members of these groups have been convicted of anti-state activities, planning or carrying out terrorism - attacks, sabotage and diversions, contacts with Turkish officials abroad in Bulgaria.
According to the State Security investigation, only one of them, revealed in the operational development case "The Bastards", committed numerous murders with attacks. According to its tactics - two terrorist attacks with two simultaneous attacks in different parts of the country and a wave of sabotage between them, its acts can be defined as a terrorist attack.
In 1985, a second wave of terrorist attacks by the "The Bastards" followed. The first explosion was at the Bunovo station. At 9:32 p.m. on March 9, 1985, the same group of pro-Turkish terrorists blew up the carriage for mothers with children on a fast train from Burgas to Sofia.
The bomb was planned to cause maximum damage by exploding in the Galabets tunnel (3,200 meters long), but the train was 2 minutes late and therefore the explosion was initiated at the station. 7 people died (2 children, one woman and three men), 9 people were seriously injured (including 2 children).
Just 30 minutes later, at 10 p.m., a bomb was detonated in the lobby of the "Sliven" hotel - the central multi-storey hotel in the city. The explosive device was hidden in the wardrobe of the pastry shop, known as "The Test Tube". The walls of the wardrobe reduced the shock wave. 23 people were injured. The ceiling of the hall was destroyed.
The investigation established that by August 10, 1987, explosives, a clockwork mechanism and everything necessary for a third consecutive terrorist attack targeting the Sunny Beach resort were provided. The planned date of the attack was August 15, but the terrorists were discovered and arrested two days earlier and the attack was prevented.
The terrorists in the operational development case "The Bastards" were discovered by the "Sixth Directorate" of the State Security, "T" direction /terror/, headed by Major General Sava Dzhendov. The investigation was directly led by Major Georgi Sotirov.
On August 13, 1987, two of the terrorists were arrested, and on August 19 of the same year, the third of the group was detained. One of their helpers, who provided the poison for pouring into a water supply area of a village, the brother of one of the terrorists, was also detained. Three people involved in the investigation were also arrested.
In 1987, Ahmed Dogan was also arrested, and he is lying in a cell for those sentenced to death. Whether it is true that this is related to the investigations into the attacks and he was convicted of the attack, as claimed on some websites, is not indisputable.
On April 25, 1988, the three terrorists were sentenced to death. After a few months, the sentence was confirmed by the State Council of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and they were executed.
Their helper was sentenced to 6 years in prison, served 2 years, was amnestied by the presidential administration during the term of Zhelyu Zhelev and was released in 1990, receiving 50,000 leva in compensation from the state.
Of those convicted of complicity, one received 2 years in prison, and two received one year in prison.
The coordinated terrorist attack with explosions of important public transport facilities simultaneously in large cities far from each other goes beyond a simple bombing. The tactic of a terrorist attack with successive attacks is atypical to this point.
The strikes were planned as powerful "blind" attacks, i.e. do not have a specific target, but aim for civilian casualties, maximum destruction and psychological impact on society.
The attacks lead to the escalation of the campaign for the forcible change of Arab-Turkish names in the period from December 24, 1984 to January 19, 1985 -
About 850,000 citizens were severely repressed when changing their names.
It has been established that the terrorists are agents-collaborators of the State Security, and their helper - of the militia /Ministry of Internal Affairs/. Investigative case No. 72/IV.1987 and the operational cases "Merzavtsi" and "Dvuličnik 87", as well as the personal files, work files of the terrorists-collaborators in the State Security, have not yet been declassified. One of the terrorists also worked for the Turkish services under the aliases Abdullah, Deniz and Moryaka. Another also has connections with them, through the intelligence officer Kadir Soylu from the Turkish consulate in Burgas.
The early-released helper erected a fountain dedicated to his brother and the other terrorists, and placed a memorial plaque for them with text in Turkish.
Organizationally, this helper grew to become the regional coordinator for Burgas of the MRF, whose leader is known to be a proven collaborator with at least State Security /there are doubts that Dogan collaborated with more than one intelligence operation/.
The plaque was removed after 6 years by order of the Burgas District Prosecutor Emil Hristov, restored arbitrarily a year later, broken with picks after 8 years by youths and everything was demolished, with the terrain leveled by order of the Directorate for National Construction Control (DNSK) after a decision of the Supreme Administrative Court in 2009
During the five years of the campaign to rename the Bulgarian Turks, the victims (killed) totaled 32 people: one woman in the attack at the Plovdiv train station; 8 protesters (including a baby) during the campaign period from December 24, 1984 to January 19, 1985; 7 (including 2 children) in the attack at the Bunovo train station; 3 executed and sentenced to death in November 1988; 9 protesters and one soldier in the period May 19-27, 1989.
To these should be added the two terrorists who were blown up and one who was subsequently shot for kidnapping two children. We remind you: On July 7, 1987, Darin Hristov /12 years old/ and Nikolay Petkov /15 years old/ from Dobrich were kidnapped in a car by three "pro-Turkish terrorists" to use them as human shields in securing a corridor for their escape to Turkey.
The terrorists were armed with 12 fragmentation grenades, detonated 3 of them in front of the "International" hotel in Golden Sands and wounded three people - two foreign vacationers and one Bulgarian. Surrounded by special forces, they retreated to the corridor they had secured towards the Turkish border.
During the ambush in Strandzha, the terrorists blew up the car in which they and the children taken hostage were. The children were injured, one of them seriously and remains disabled, two terrorists were killed in the explosion, and the third was sentenced to death and shot.