One person died and several others were wounded Saturday night in a blast at the home of the secretary-general of the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) terrorist organization, an ally of the Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza and one of the three groups that participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006.

Shalit was returned to his parents this past October in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian Authority terrorist prisoners from Israeli jails.

Palestinian Authority Arab medics reported that four people were injured at the Rafiah home of PRC head Zuher Qeysi, in addition to the unidentified casualty, a Gaza health ministry official told reporters. The explosion could be seen for miles around, and the house was leveled, according to eyewitnesses. Several smaller, secondary blasts followed the initial explosion.

The PRC released a statement after the incident saying that Qeysi had not been killed in the conflagration, and admitted there had been no IDF air strike on the building.

The terrorist group added that the explosion had been caused by a “malfunction” — sometimes also referred to as a “work accident,” a mishap that occurs when a bomb-maker mishandles the explosives he is preparing.

An IDF spokesperson denied any military activity in the area.