Palestinian ambassador injured in explosion

[Minskaya]

Palestinian Ambassador Injured in Apartment Blast
PRAGUE January 1, 2014

An explosion rocked the apartment of the Palestinian ambassador to Czechoslovakia on Wednesday, seriously injuring the diplomat. Palestinian Embassy spokesman Nabil El-Fahel told Czech public radio that Ambassador Jamel al-Jamal was hospitalized with serious injuries from the blast on Wednesday. The ambassador was in the flat with his family at the time of the explosion, El-Fahel said. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said the explosion occurred when the ambassador was moving an old office safe box. It was not immediately clear how the explosives ended up in the safe box, but the ministry said the blast was being investigated. Prague rescue service spokeswoman Jirina Ernestova said the 56-year-old diplomat was in a medically induced coma. She said a 52-year old woman was also taken to the hospital after suffering from shock.

Source: ABC

According to Palestinian sources, the explosion occurred when he opened the safe.

Hmm. Did he forget the safe was rigged for security, or was he careless with whatever explosive material was secured in the safe?

[bigross86]

He dead...

And yes, it was us. Don't ask me how cause I won't tell (cause I don't know), but we did it. Maybe Minnie has the answer.....

[Doktor]

Palestine Embassy in Czech Republic?

They have Embassies now? This is new to me.

[Minskaya]

He dead...

And yes, it was us. Don't ask me how cause I won't tell (cause I don't know), but we did it. Maybe Minnie has the answer.....

He did indeed later die of his wounds, but it wasn't us Ben. He apparently accidentally killed himself...

The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic died Wednesday in a blast that occurred when he opened an old safe that had been left untouched for more than 20 years, officials said. Ambassador Jamel al-Jamal, 56, was at home with his family at the time of the explosion, according to Palestinian Embassy spokesman Nabil El-Fahel. Al-Jamal was seriously injured and rushed to a hospital where he died, according to police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said no foul play was suspected, noting that the safe had been left untouched for more than 20 years. It also appeared that the door of the safe had been booby-trapped, according to Zoulova. It was unclear how al-Jamal tried to open it or what type of safe it was. The safe was recently moved from the old embassy building, but it had come from a building that used to house the Palestinian Liberation Organization's offices in the 1980s, Malki said. "The ambassador decided to open it. After he opened it, apparently something happened inside (the safe) and went off," Malki told The Associated Press. "The safe was sitting neglected in one of the areas of the old embassy. It was in one of the corners. No one had touched it for 20 to 25 years," Malki said. The embassy recently moved to a new complex.

Source: ABC

Also, according to a Czech website (novinky.cz) police found “a significant quantity of weapons and explosives” inside the building during the investigation.

[Parihaka]

Gosh, the PLO using 'embassies' to smuggle munitions around Europe. Who would have thought.

[zraver]

Gosh, the PLO using 'embassies' to smuggle munitions around Europe. Who would have thought.

Proof? I mean US embassies (and I assume others) are equipped with armories and armed personnel. Does this mean we are smuggling arms across Europe?

[Bigfella]

Gosh, the PLO using 'embassies' to smuggle munitions around Europe. Who would have thought.

Maybe, maybe not:

The safe was recently moved from the old embassy building, but it had come from a building that used to house the Palestinian Liberation Organization's offices in the 1980s

Not sure if those PLO offices actually constituted an 'embassy' or not. A safe in a PLO office holding explosives wouldn't me the most shocking thing in history, but we still don't know quite what happened here. Was it some sort of old security device that went off or was it actual explosives?

Can definitely see a funny side to this.

[Parihaka]

Proof? I mean US embassies (and I assume others) are equipped with armories and armed personnel. Does this mean we are smuggling arms across Europe?

PRAGUE: The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Jamal al-Jamal, was killed by a blast in his Prague residence on Wednesday, police said.

"With regret we confirm this information provided by the emergency services," Prague police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova told AFP.

Daniel Langer, surgeon at the Prague military hospital to which Jamal was taken, told Czech television the ambassador had suffered devastating "head, belly and chest injuries following an explosion."

Jamal, who took office in October, had only recently moved to the new residence on the northern outskirts of Prague.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the blast occurred on Wednesday morning as Jamal "was opening an old safe which had been brought from the previous embassy (building) to the new one."

"Minutes after opening the safe the explosion took place, causing serious injury to Ambassador Jamal who was taken to hospital and operated on," the ministry said in a statement.

Quoting sources close to the police investigation, the Novinky.cz news site said the blast was probably caused by "careless manipulation with a dangerous explosive."

It added the police had found "a significant quantity of weapons and explosives" in the building.

"Emergency services treated a 56-year-old man who suffered very serious injuries and was taken to Prague's military hospital in an artificial coma," spokeswoman Jirina Ernestova said shortly after the blast.

"A 52-year-old woman was taken to another hospital because of smoke inhalation and a stress reaction," Ernestova told AFP.

Embassy spokesman Nabil al-Fahel told Czech radio that the ambassador's entire family had been in the residence when the blast occurred.

Police said they were still investigating the causes. The Palestinian foreign ministry said it would "send a high-level delegation to Prague (on Thursday) to speak with Czech officials and cooperate in the investigation into the cause of the explosion."

I assume from the report it wasn't a device designed to destroy documents inside the safe in case of tampering because the explosion occurred "minutes after" the safe was opened and also the extensive nature of the injuries the ambassador suffered.
I also assume US and other embassies, whilst certainly having firearms, are unlikely to store explosives in a form of a bomb. From what I understand most modern explosives are not stored in a manner that makes them likely to explode without the presence of some form of ignition, such as a detonator.

[Parihaka]

Maybe, maybe not:



Not sure if those PLO offices actually constituted an 'embassy' or not. A safe in a PLO office holding explosives wouldn't me the most shocking thing in history, but we still don't know quite what happened here. Was it some sort of old security device that went off or was it actual explosives?

Can definitely see a funny side to this.

Yeah me too.

Palestina | Ministerstvo zahrani First paragraph gives the timeline

More than happy to concede this may be an historic device.

[Minskaya]

Whatever was in the safe, it remained viable and deadly for over 20 years. The injuries sustained are far too grievous for a device merely intended to ignite paper documents within the safe.

[bigross86]

He did indeed later die of his wounds, but it wasn't us Ben. He apparently accidentally killed himself...

Yeah, obviously you don't know the Palestinians, the Arabs, or the internet that well, if you somehow assume that we won't be blamed for this, somehow. We knew twenty years ago who the Ambassador was gonna be, and obviously we're good at carrying grudges and/or planning things in advance....

[Bigfella]

Yeah, obviously you don't know the Palestinians, the Arabs, or the internet that well, if you somehow assume that we won't be blamed for this, somehow. We knew twenty years ago who the Ambassador was gonna be, and obviously we're good at carrying grudges and/or planning things in advance....

Might as well take credit then. You know how clever you guys are. I mean, who else but the Jews could manage to place a Jewish cop on the spot right when Mel Gibson had his little outburst. years of planning mate, years of planning. A 20 year plot to off a Palestinian Ambassador who didn't even exist when the device was planted is par for the course really. Don't survive 5000 years without being able to play the long game.

[bigross86]

Exactly! I'm surprised Minnie wasn't briefed on this one.....

[zraver]

I also assume US and other embassies, whilst certainly having firearms, are unlikely to store explosives in a form of a bomb. From what I understand most modern explosives are not stored in a manner that makes them likely to explode without the presence of some form of ignition, such as a detonator.

Maybe, maybe not. I assume the armories have basic load outs for the marine infantry stationed there (grenades etc). Second the smuggling part is not established.

Minskaya,

Whatever was in the safe, it remained viable and deadly for over 20 years. The injuries sustained are far too grievous for a device merely intended to ignite paper documents within the safe.

Explosives don't really have a shelf life. If they are kept dry and dark they can remain viable for centuries. Large parts of France are still uninhabitable from WWI. Some like dynamite actually get deadlier, less stable with time.

[bigross86]

Just gonna leave this one here....

Arms cache found at Prague home of dead Palestinian envoy

Arms cache found at Prague home of dead Palestinian envoy

Illegal arsenal contained enough weapons for 10 men; Palestinians change story about safe in explosion which killed Jamel al-Jamal Wednesday

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF January 2, 2014, 5:29 pm

A large, illegal weapons stockpile was found Thursday at the home of the Palestinian ambassador in Prague, Jamel al-Jamal, Czech media reported, a day after al-Jamal was killed in an explosion there

Respekt, a Czech weekly newspaper, reported that the arsenal was enough to arm a unit of ten men.

Czech police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova confirmed that arms had been found in the ambassador’s residence, which is located within the newly constructed Palestinian Embassy complex.

Channel 2 News reported that the stockpile included heavy firearms, that it was held illegally, and that its existence had not been previously known to the Czech authorities.

Al-Jamal, 56, was killed Wednesday when a safe at his home exploded. He and his wife were at home at the time of the safe’s explosion, according to Palestinian Embassy spokesman Nabil El-Fahel. Al-Jamal was seriously injured and rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short while later.

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki said no foul play was suspected, and claimed that the safe had been left untouched for more than 20 years.

Later, however, El-Fahel told Czech radio that the safe had been in regular use. ”[The safe] was used on a daily basis at the embassy and it was opened and closed almost every day,” the embassy spokesman said.

The safe was recently moved from the old embassy building, Malki had claimed, adding that it had come from a building that used to house the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s offices in the 1980s. “The ambassador decided to open it. After he opened it, apparently something happened inside (the safe) and went off,” Malki said.

Al-Jamal was born in 1957, in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp. His family is originally from Jaffa in what is now Israel.

He joined Fatah in 1975. In 1979, he was appointed deputy ambassador in Bulgaria.

Starting in 1984, he served as a diplomat in Prague, eventually as acting ambassador. From 2005-2013, he served as consul general in Alexandria, Egypt.

In October 2013, he was appointed ambassador in Prague.

The Associated Press contributed to this report