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Grenade Injures 16 in Crowded Prague Square

AFP/DW staff (nda)August 1, 2004

A grenade thrown from a passing car into Prague's central Wenceslas Square injured 16 people on Sunday. Officials have no motive for the attack but have ruled out terrorist involvement.

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No one was seriously injured in the attack on Wenceslas SquareImage: AP

At least 16 people including one child were injured by an explosion just off Prague's central Wenceslas Square on Sunday, the city's emergency services said.

Most of those received only slight injuries from the blast in Na Prikope pedestrian precinct just off Wenceslas Square, one of the Czech capital's busiest streets, at lunchtime.

Most of those injured were guests sitting close by in the garden terrace of the Casino Royal restaurant outside the casino of the same name. Na Prikope is home to many shops, boutiques, casinos and restaurants and is usually packed with tourists

"Sixteen or 17 people were injured, all of them lightly. Most of them were hit by shrapnel or glass from the explosion," emergency services spokesman Marek Uhlir said on Czech state television.

Underworld not terrorists blamed

"This was not a terrorist attack, it was not a bomb," Prague Deputy Mayor Rudolf Blazek told reporters at the scene.

Prime Minister Stanislav Gross toured the blast area and said that "for citizens it is important to realise that this was a criminal act related to the underworld".

The pedestrian street was teeming with thousands of tourists enjoying a warm and sunny afternoon in the area, which is home to nearby historic sites such as Wenceslas Square, and the Estates Theatre where Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni" premiered.

More than 12 ambulances, together with police, fire fighters and pyrotechnic experts, were on the scene. Police cordoned off the area.

According to Czech news wire CTK, witnesses reported seeing a grenade thrown under a car by a young man from a white jeep.