Series of security incidents across Germany spark investigations

Police are investigating after homemade projectiles were used to damage power lines in eastern Germany. This comes amid suspicion of sabotage another power station in the west of the country. DW has more.

Police in the eastern German state of Brandenburg on Wednesday said they were investigating the possible formation of a terrorist organization in connection with an attack on a power plant and substation in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

According to officials, on Tuesday morning, a projectile managed to carry a cable into the extra-high-voltage power line at a substation near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant, creating a conductive connection to the ground that caused a brief outage.

On Wednesday, Brandenburg's state Interior Minister Jan Redmann said "we were damn lucky" that only one of more than a dozen "rocket-like objects equipped with a propellant charge" reached its target.

He added the suspects had positioned the projectiles directly beneath the power lines near the Turnow-Preilack substation on the border with the state of Saxony.

The search for suspects continues, and an investigation is looking into all possibilities.

Brandenburg police said their investigation also includes disruption of public services, the causing of an explosion and the destruction of important equipment.

"At this point, we must assume that the perpetrators had been on the scene for several days beforehand and had installed the necessary equipment," Redmann said.

The construction and installation of the devices required a considerable amount of "technical expertise," he added.

A German high-speed Intercity Express (ICE) train was forced to stop near the entrance of a tunnel on Tuesday after a door mysteriously opened during the ride, police said Wednesday.

The train had been moving at around 200 km/h (125 mph) and the conductor immediately applied the emergency brakes.

There were 238 passengers on board the train, which was heading from Munich to Dortmund. No injuries were reported after police searched the tracks and ruled out the possibility someone could have fallen through the door.

The passengers were able to get off the train in the town of Lohr am Main.

Germany's Federal Police interviewed the passengers there and took down personal information. The officers also checked to see if any luggage had fallen off the train. The rail line was reopened around 2:30 a.m.

According to a railway spokeswoman, there was no technical malfunction with the train.

German rail operator Deutsche Bahn declined to comment on whether someone on board the train might have opened the door intentionally.

"Doors on the ICE don't just open while the train is moving," according to a brief statement given to Germany's DPA news agency.

"The specific cause is being investigated by the authorities," it added.

After Germany on Tuesday said Moscow was behind an attempted drone attack at an airport in Leipzig, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that the contract for the cultural center "Russian House" would be cancelled.

The Russian House is centrally located on Friedrichstrasse in the heart of the German capital. As a throwback to a bygone era of friendly German-Russian relations, it has long been the subject of fierce disagreements and a bone of contention in Berlin.

Augsburg train station reopened after police sealed off the area while investigating an early morning blast that left two passers-by aged 17 and 18 with minor acoustic trauma.

According to the Bild tabloid, police said a hand grenade exploded outside a jewelry shop next to the station, causing minor damage to the facade. Police have not immediately confirmed the report of a grenade.

Police had completely shut down the station after a bomb sniffing dog uncovered a second "suspicious object," which turned out to be fragments of the grenade, Bild reported.

There was no further information available on suspects or a motive.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Wednesday said that the European Union is working on imposing more sanctions on Russian individuals in the coming weeks, a day after Germany said Moscow was behind an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport on August 4.

"Russia has escalated and must live with the consequences," Wadephul said at a gathering of EU foreign ministers in Ireland.

"Pressure on Russia is being stepped up and support for Ukraine also remains at a high level. That is the unity we are demonstrating at this time," he said, without sharing further details on what the new measures would entail, other than they would target "a large number" of individuals.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said that the Leipzig incident had "all the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism." adding that the EU was working on sanctions targeting 1,600 individuals and entities linked to Russia's military industry.

Officials had discovered a drone between Ukrainian cargo aircraft fitted with explosives and a detonation mechanism, triggering speculation over who could have been responsible.

On Tuesday, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that although the devices required "a high degree of technical expertise," the plan appears to have been carried out by "low-level" agents.

The ministers said the Russian consulate general in Bonn would be closed, along with the termination of the lease for the Russian House, a Russian cultural institution in the heart of Berlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected Germany's accusations and said the punitive measures are a "serious mistake."

During a press conference on Tuesday, Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul disclosed intelligence findings about the incident in which an explosive-laden drone was found at Leipzig Airport last month.

Police in Augsburg have said the city's main train station is now fully shut down as of 8:30 a.m. with rail service suspended, due to a "suspicious object," without sharing further details.

Earlier, one track had been operating as police investigated a blast from an unknown object earlier Wednesday morning.

An unidentified object exploded near a train station in the southern German city of Augsburg early Wednesday morning, with two people sustaining minor injuries due to acoustic trauma, police said.

Window panes were also reportedly damaged by the explosion, which occurred in a building passageway.

No information is yet available regarding the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Parts of the station were closed off as police continued investigating the scene. The State Criminal Police Office (LKA) is on the scene with an explosive-disposal robot, the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reported.

Police first responded to the incident at around 5 a.m. local time.

Augsburg is a regional transport hub around 55 kilometers (35 miles) west of Munich.

Police are investigating a disruption at a power station in the town of Bergheim in western Germany, near Cologne.

On Tuesday evening, several power lines failed following a short circuit at the power station.

"Based on the current status of the investigation, we do not believe this was caused by a technical malfunction, but rather by a deliberate act, a criminal offense," a police spokesperson said on Wednesday morning.

The spokesperson did not initially provide any details regarding the damage or the actions of the alleged perpetrators.

Police said the incident on Tuesday evening did not cause a power outage to the surrounding area.

The incident comes as tensions are high after unknown individuals attempted to cause short circuits in extra-high-voltage power lines near the Jänschwalde coal-fired power plant in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Tuesday morning.

Police found explosive devices near the plant are investigating the incident as an act of sabotage.