Orbán orders increased security at defense industry plants in wake of terrorist attack in Czech Republic

"After the energy infrastructure, we also had to strengthen security at factories manufacturing defense equipment," Viktor Orbán announced in a Facebook video. The Hungarian Prime Minister deemed this necessary after a fire broke out in a warehouse belonging to the defense company LPP Holding in the town of Pardubice in the Czech Republic.

According to the government, the incident was a terrorist attack, and Orbán held consultations overnight with national security officials, while the group that claimed responsibility for the fire has been designated a terrorist organization. It remains unclear exactly which group this is, so we sent questions to the Government Information Center and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. According to Aktuálně, the attack was claimed by an international anti-Zionist organization called the Earthquake Faction.

The paper reported that the organization claimed responsibility for the attack in an email. In the email, they wrote that they had set the fire to prevent the facility from supporting “Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.” LPP Holding operated the warehouse jointly with the Israeli defense company Elbit Systems. In a statement, LPP Holding wrote that the two companies do not have any joint projects at the Pardubice facility.

News of the fire broke shortly before Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš was supposed to arrive in Budapest on Friday, to participate in the CPAC Hungary conference organized by the Center for Fundamental Rights.

The Hungarian government ordered the tightening of security around the country's energy infrastructure facilities back in February, as it was concerned about a potential Ukrainian attack. In addition to soldiers, “equipment necessary for repelling attacks” was also deployed to these locations. The Prime Minister did not specify what kind of attacks he was referring to. The police have also been mobilized with increased patrols around designated power plants, distribution stations, and control centers.