Bombing in Downtown Budapest

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On Saturday night there was a major explosion in downtown Budapest that was originally reported in the media as a likely gas leak. However, by Sunday morning it became clear that the blast was caused by a bomb, and that police officers were deliberately targeted. Two officers were seriously wounded, and one (the female officer) is in critical condition.

Below is a video excerpt from a press conference given by the chief of police and the prosecutor’s office in Budapest. Many thanks to CrossWare for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:00   Good evening. Welcome, everyone, to the news conference
00:04   of the Central Investigative Prosecutor’s Office and the National Chief of Police.
00:09   Please listen to an audio recording that was recorded immediately after
00:12   two police officers were injured on Teréz Boulevard.
00:15   In the recording you will hear the voice of the male member of the patrol.
00:23   [Starts playback] “Help! On Teréz Boulevard, help! Officers down!”
00:30   “Help, officer injured, help help!”
00:35   “Officer unconscious, help help!”
00:47   “Send ambulance now, my partner has a neck injury, a neck injury!” [End playback]
00:52   Now I ask Károly Papp, Lieutenant General, National Chief of Police to start his news conference.
00:59   Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening welcome here in the
01:05   National Headquarters of the Police, and I would like to welcome the Chief Prosecutor, too.
01:10   First I would like to give you, and through you to our citizens, the information
01:16   that the necessary surgeries for the injured officers have been successfully completed.
01:19   My female colleague has life-threatening, and my male colleague has serious injuries.
01:22   They are in stable condition; the female officer is being kept in an artificial coma.
01:30   The Police and the Office of Prosecution will provide all necessary support
01:35   to them and their families, who were all notified in the same time last night.
01:40   Ladies and gentlemen, in Budapest district 6, Teréz Boulevard 2b,
01:43   yesterday at 10:36pm the explosion occurred.
01:48   The explosive device had fragmented material and was a home-made bomb.
01:54   At this stage of the investigation about the bomb we have no more information available.
02:00   The description of the perpetrator is as follows:
02:03   Around 170 cm tall (5’6”), 20-25 years old, white fishing hat,
02:12   dark linen jacket and blue jeans with white shoes.
02:17   The Police Standby Force and Central Investigative Office have begun their investigation
02:22   into attempted murder against official persons.
02:26   I would like to inform you that from tomorrow we will transfer
02:30   the investigation to the Central Investigation Office of the Prosecutor,
02:35   because we have concrete proof the attack was deliberately planned against our officers.
02:42   By my judgement the attack against them was an attack against our whole police force.
02:50   They wanted to kill my people! We will use all the available resources from the police,
02:54   and other defensive forces will provide every necessary support for the ongoing investigation.
03:01   My message is this: WE WILL FIND THE PERP!
03:05   We will know his motivation! We started a hunt for him last night;
03:09   hundreds of civilian and uniformed colleagues are working even now.
03:15   So far in the investigation we have brought experts to the scene to make an analysis,
03:20   collected witness statements, and camera recordings have been taken into labs.
03:30   So far 145 cameras’ recordings have been collected for processing.
03:40   From the beginning we cooperated and continue to work with TEK [Anti-terror commando/intel],
03:45   and also with the Hungarian Counter Intelligence Agency and partner intelligence agencies.
03:52   During the night, following our emergency protocol, I ordered high alert status
03:58   at the Ferenc Liszt International Airport,
04:05   and all border crossing stations nationwide. I also ordered
04:08   an increased security presence on international trains.
04:11   From this morning we set up a toll-free phone line.
04:20   Also all phone calls to the standard emergency numbers
04:30   but connected with this case will be redirected to the investigative task force.
04:38   So far we have fourteen calls; we are available in 24/7.
04:45   I would like to announce a 10 million HUF ($37K/€33K) reward for the capture of the perpetrator.
04:48   Thank you very much for your attention!
 

3 thoughts on “Bombing in Downtown Budapest”

    • Watch the guy appear at 17:30-ish on the left upper corner, slowly walks when passing the police stops and waits while looking back to them… His hands in his pockets once the explosion occur he raises his hands above his head (praise allah?) and runs… Just sayin…

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