Fire at Czech arms company linked to Ukraine investigated as terror attack

2026-03-21 15:52:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Czech authorities have launched an investigation into a fire that broke out in a warehouse at a company that produces drones and other military equipment, including a new cruise missile that was reportedly planned to be tested in the fighting in Ukraine this year.

Officials said the pre-dawn fire at a building owned by arms manufacturer LPP Holding in the city of Pardubice, about 100 kilometers east of Prague, was deliberate and the case is being treated as a terrorist attack.

A group calling itself Earthquake Faction said on Telegram that it was responsible for the March 20 fire at the facility, which it described as a "key production center" for Israeli weapons and linked to what it called "genocide against Palestine, Iran and Lebanon."

However, Czech media outlet Seznam zpravy, citing anonymous sources, reported that security officials are also examining the possibility that it was a fake operation and that Earthquake Faction, about which the outlet said there is "no evidence that can be traced," could be a cover for another entity or a state actor.

"We are dealing with all the information that is available. There is a possible connection to a terrorist attack," Interior Minister Lubomir Metnar said in a post on X.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis also said in a post on X that the event is being investigated as an act of terrorism, while President Petr Pavel stressed that it is important to await the results of the investigation.

National police chief Martin Vondrasek said that shortly after the fire was reported at around 4am, messages were sent to several Czech journalists from an address registered to the same domain as the Earthquake Faction website.

In a statement on its website, LPP Holding confirmed that a fire had broken out at one of its facilities and said it would not speculate on the “causes or circumstances.” The company added that no one was injured during the incident.

Czech media outlet Aktualne quoted a representative of LPP Holding as saying that the planned 2023 cooperation with an Israeli firm, Elbit Systems, never materialized due to the cancellation of a tender, and that LPP has never produced Israeli drones.

Articles on the LPP website indicate that the company has produced drones that have been used by the Ukrainian military in its defense against the Russian-led invasion, now in its fifth year.

In December, Aktualne reported that combat testing of a new cruise missile produced by LPP, with a range of up to 680 kilometers, called Narwhal, would take place in Ukraine in January-February of this year, with serial production of the missile likely to begin thereafter. /REL