A previously unknown group has claimed responsibility for a fire at a military plant in Pardubice, Czech Republic, on Friday, saying it targeted the facility due to links between a company based there and the Israeli defense industry, local outlet Denik reports.

The building is managed by LPP Holding, which had previously considered cooperation on drone production with Israeli company Elbit Systems, although this ultimately did not materialize. At the same time, LPP Holding supplies drones to Ukraine.

According to security experts, it is currently impossible to determine who is actually behind the attack.

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Former head of the Czech Foreign Intelligence Service Karel Randak said in a comment to the outlet that such arson attacks are not uncommon globally, but nothing similar has previously occurred in the Czech Republic. "I do not remember anything like this ever happening here," he said.

According to Randak, radical pro-Palestinian movements are not widespread in the Czech Republic, and Czech society is largely pro-Israeli.

Former head of Czech military intelligence Andor Sandor said one possible version is a Russian false-flag operation, in which perpetrators attribute their actions to others. "Of course, this cannot be ruled out at all. In the statement, the alleged perpetrators refer to Gaza, which seems somewhat strange to me, as the conflict in Gaza began three years ago in October and is no longer in a hot phase," he said, adding that he does not believe there is "an organized pro-Palestinian movement" in the Czech Republic.

At the same time, Sandor said the Czech Republic’s largely pro-Israeli stance could be one reason why the local arms facility became a target. "It should also be noted that Prague is a center of Central European Jewry. The stated motives of the alleged perpetrators have a strong anti-Israeli undertone," he added.

Sandor said that if the videos published by the attackers are genuine, the perpetrators wanted to demonstrate that they managed to overcome security measures at the arms plant, and "at this point, anyone could have been behind it."

As reported, the Czech Republic is investigating a nighttime fire at the LPP Holding defense complex in Pardubice as a possible deliberate attack. The incident occurred at a warehouse site and spread to another building. According to firefighters, there were no casualties.

According to the agency, a group protesting against Israeli weapons claimed responsibility for setting fire to a "key production center" of Israeli weapons in Pardubice, saying it aimed to "end its role in the genocide in Gaza." Police initially examined whether the incident was intentional and reviewed public statements about a specific group without naming it, and later security services investigators opened a probe under the Criminal Code on terrorism.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he would convene a meeting of the state security council in connection with the incident.