Bulgaria's top prosecutor on Monday emerged unharmed after becoming the target of what authorities called an "assassination attempt" with a roadside explosion allegedly aimed at his motorcade.
Authorities said the convoy of chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev was en route to Sofia at around 11:30 local time, when a bomb exploded by the side of the road.
"The chief prosecutor was the target of attempted murder, not just intimidation," deputy chief prosecutor Borislav Sarafov told journalists.
Thousands of Bulgarians had taken to the streets for months on end in 2020 to protest the government's perceived corruption under former long-time premier Boyko Borisov.
Mass protests had also seen calls for Geshev's resignation.
A controversial figure for years, Geshev, whose mandate runs until 2026, has been specifically accused of shielding those in power and subverting efforts to reveal and punish graft.
The blast of the "bomb was not only a high TNT equivalent, but it contained shards," Sarafov said.
"This was a professionally prepared assault, and obviously also a very well executed one," he said, adding that Geshev and his family, who were travelling in armoured vehicles, were merely saved "by chance".
Prosecutors have opened a terrorism probe into the incident in which nobody was hurt.
The exact nature of the explosive is still under investigation and will be disclosed at a later stage, they said.
Massive anti-graft protests in 2020 lead to the end of Borisov's decade in power, setting off a spiral of repeated elections.
But Bulgaria remains politically divided, as the fifth election in two years in early April did not produce clear results, further extending the country's impeding political stalemate.
