Germany thwarts railway arsonists
Source: Agencies |
October 12, 2011, Wednesday
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An attempted arson attack on a railway link in Germany's capital with three separate explosive devices was thwarted, police said yesterday. It was the third attack in two days targeting rail operations in and around Germany's capital, Berlin.
A railway employee found the devices placed on cables alongside a railway track in eastern Berlin on Monday morning and alerted security, police spokesman Ivo Habedank said.
The devices did not explode and were defused by police experts. It is not clear how much damage they would have caused, but there are no houses or busy streets nearby, Habedank said.
Parts of Berlin's train services to and from the city's southeast were halted for more than two hours because of the incident, he added.
An arson attempt on Monday on Berlin's central station using seven bottles filled with flammable liquid bundled together and linked to a fuse was thwarted at the last minute.
A similar device exploded in a utility shaft next to a high-speed train line west of Berlin a few hours earlier, causing damage but no casualties, and halting train traffic there for the day.
It is unclear whether the attacks are related, Habedank said.
A previously unknown leftist group claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks in a letter whose authenticity is being examined by police.
In a message posted on a leftist website, a group calling itself Hekla Reception Committee - Initiative for more Eruptions in Society claimed responsibility, saying it was targeting railway operations to protest against Germany's roles in the Afghanistan war and as an arms exporter. The group's name is an apparent reference to Iceland's Hekla volcano.
Police have blamed several recent arson attacks in Berlin on leftist extremists.
A railway employee found the devices placed on cables alongside a railway track in eastern Berlin on Monday morning and alerted security, police spokesman Ivo Habedank said.
The devices did not explode and were defused by police experts. It is not clear how much damage they would have caused, but there are no houses or busy streets nearby, Habedank said.
Parts of Berlin's train services to and from the city's southeast were halted for more than two hours because of the incident, he added.
An arson attempt on Monday on Berlin's central station using seven bottles filled with flammable liquid bundled together and linked to a fuse was thwarted at the last minute.
A similar device exploded in a utility shaft next to a high-speed train line west of Berlin a few hours earlier, causing damage but no casualties, and halting train traffic there for the day.
It is unclear whether the attacks are related, Habedank said.
A previously unknown leftist group claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks in a letter whose authenticity is being examined by police.
In a message posted on a leftist website, a group calling itself Hekla Reception Committee - Initiative for more Eruptions in Society claimed responsibility, saying it was targeting railway operations to protest against Germany's roles in the Afghanistan war and as an arms exporter. The group's name is an apparent reference to Iceland's Hekla volcano.
Police have blamed several recent arson attacks in Berlin on leftist extremists.
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