Abandoned Luggage Triggers Bomb Scare in Central Sofia

An alert sent to the emergency hotline 112 left a key junction in the center of Bulgaria's capital Sofia sealed off for nearly an hour on Monday evening.

A controlled detonation was carried out after police cordoned off the junction of Vitosha and General Skobelev Blvds, meters from the National Palace of Culture.

A team of the specalized anti-terror squad was also deployed.

Abandoned luggage alerts have been frequent since the attacks in Brussels last Tuesday.

On Thursday, the US Department of State advised US citizens to avoid the area near Hotel Pliska in Sofia due to a "possible threat", which later turned out to be a false alarm.