A 51-year-old woman was splashed with acid in the central Bulgarian city of Plovdiv on March 24 2010, private national Darik radio said.

At about 8am, two men in black hats approached the entrance of a company on Plovdiv's Tsar Osvoboditel boulevard. One of the firm's employees, who had just arrived at work for the day, answered the door.

When she asked them who they were looking for, one of the men opened a bottle and splashed her with acid before running away.

Fortunately, she managed to avert her face and most of the acid ended up on her clothes. The woman was quickly taken to hospital where doctors found that some drops of acid managed to get onto her face. One of her eyes was red and she had sustained minor burns to the stomach.

This is the most recent case of men spraying acid on women in Bulgaria, causing much public anger.

One such case happened in November 2009 when two female university students were attacked with acid in the south-western Bulgarian town of Blagoevgrad. The two women, aged 24 and 26, were on their way home from a nightclub when they were confronted by a man who sprayed them with acid.

The man accused of orchestrating the attack is Ventsislav Dobrev. He was arrested along with two other men shortly after the incident following a swift police operation.

According to several accounts, Dobrev had had a relationship with one of the two women who suffered the more severe injuries in the attack. According to police and Ivailo Filipov of the prosecutors' office, jealousy was the motive. If found guilty, Dobrev will face between three and 10 years in jail.

The case sparkled serious public discontent in Blagoevgrad where university students held a protest on March 17 2010 in support of the two victims.