Three Irish tourists were among 18 people injured in an explosion in Prague yesterday afternoon after a hand grenade was thrown in a street crowded with tourists.
The three men were sitting outside a café when the grenade was thrown from a passing car, in what Prague police were describing as a criminal incident as opposed to a terrorist act.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said the three had been hospitalised with minor injuries, and that consular staff from the Irish Embassy in Prague were providing assistance to them. They were not expected to be kept in overnight.
The three were reportedly part of a group of five people, including two British citizens, who were injured when the grenade exploded under a car, close to the café where they were sitting.
According to a number of Irish bar workers in the Czech capital the three were tourists and were not part of the small Irish community in Prague.
The city remains a popular weekend destination for Irish visitors, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, and continues to be popular with Irish stag parties.
Czech officials said 18 people in all were injured in the incident. A spokesman for the Prague emergency department said four people were seriously hurt while the rest were treated on the scene.
"This was not a terrorist attack, it was not a bomb," Prague's deputy mayor Mr Rudolf Blazek told reporters at the scene.
The pedestrian street was teeming with thousands of tourists enjoying a warm and sunny afternoon.
It is close to historic sites such as Wenceslas Square, and the Estates Theatre. where Mozart's opera Don Giovanni premiered.
Mr Blazek said the blast occurred near a casino, and may have been a robbery attempt as an armoured security vehicle was parked by the Israeli-owned Royal Casino.
He added that the damage was limited because the grenade rolled under a parked car.
A Reuters reporter at the scene said there was little collateral damage to buildings in the immediate area.
Prime Minister Stanislav Gross visited the area yesterday afternoon and said that "for citizens it is important to realise that this was a criminal act related to the underworld".
Police in the Czech Republic have been on high alert for many months, fearing the country may be a target for a terrorist attack.