Bulgaria Probes Overnight Blaze at Ammunition Site Amid Sabotage Claims

Bulgarian authorities are investigating the cause of an overnight fire at an ammunition storage facility operated by private defence firm EMCO in central Bulgaria. The blaze, near the village of Gorni Varpishta, about 170km east of Sofia, set off a series of explosions but caused no injuries.

Interior Minister Ivan Demerdzhiev said officials are not excluding the possibility of outside interference in the incident. EMCO, whose weapons have been supplied to Ukraine for use against Russian forces, described the fire as an act of sabotage and said human error had been completely ruled out. The company did not name any suspects.

This is the second such incident at an EMCO facility in the area in recent weeks, following a fire and explosions at another of its ammunition warehouses last month.

In a statement, EMCO said the storage site involved in the latest fire had not been in use for months and had passed a compliance inspection just 20 days earlier. The company pointed to a pattern of similar incidents affecting Bulgarian defence firms since 2011, describing the latest fire as consistent with an ongoing series of sabotage attempts targeting the country's defence industry.

EMCO argued that Bulgaria, as the EU and NATO member state most affected by such incidents, needs to take part in a broader effort to prevent and counter these attacks.