Envoy to Prague Killed in Explosion

Updated Jan. 1, 2014 8:48 p.m. ETPRAGUE—The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic died after an explosion on Wednesday at his residence that local and Palestinian authorities describe as an accident, not an attack.
The explosion occurred when Jamal al-Jamal, the 56-year-old diplomat, manipulated an old office safe deposit box, police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova said.
“We aren’t aware of any evidence indicating that the blast was caused by an explosive device planted with a deliberate aim to harm the ambassador,” she said.
Czech police investigators suspect the safe was fitted with an anti-tampering security-explosive device that detonated when the ambassador tried to open its door.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said no foul play was suspected, noting that the safe had been left untouched for more than 20 years, the Associated Press reported.
Palestinian security and foreign ministry officials were set to travel to the Czech Republic to follow up on the local investigation of the incident, according to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
The explosion, though later determined by police to have been an accident, was reminiscent of a string of mysterious assassinations of Palestine Liberation Organization figures in European countries in the 1970s and 1980s—attacks linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad.
Since a peace accord was signed with Israel in 1993, however, few if any PLO officials have been assassinated outside the Palestinian territories.
Israel, meanwhile, has focused on Islamist militants from Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.
Mr. al-Jamal, who had previously lived in Prague in the 1990s as the Palestinian Authority’s chargé d’affaires, took up the post of ambassador to the Czech Republic in October.
He and his family had only recently moved into the newly built residence in a Prague suburb and were still unpacking their belongings.
The envoy, who suffered serious head and upper-body injuries in the explosion, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died, Ms. Zoulova said.
No one else was injured in the blast, although the envoy’s family was at home at the time, Ms. Zolouva said.
She said investigators would carry out a forensic inspection of the safe’s remnants to try to confirm their theory about the cause of the blast.
Police cordoned off part of the street near the residence Wednesday and temporarily evacuated the neighboring houses.
There was no damage visible on the outside of the ambassador’s residence.
Mr. al-Jamal had lived in Prague earlier, serving as chargé d’affaires of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s, said Johana Grohova, spokeswoman of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
—Joshua Mitnick contributed to this article.
Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com

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