Explosion at Augsburg Central Station: Two injured, rail traffic suspended for hours
An explosive device detonated overnight into Wednesday in a building passageway near Augsburg Central Station. Two teenagers suffered minor blast trauma; the perpetrators remain unclear.
Explosive device near Augsburg station: police investigate all leads
At around 3.15 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Augsburg police received multiple emergency calls reporting an explosion in a building passageway opposite the central station. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, two teenagers — a 17-year-old Ukrainian woman and an 18-year-old Ukrainian man, apparently random passers-by — were slightly injured. Both suffered blast trauma, and window panes in the surrounding area were damaged.
"We are investigating all leads," said police spokesman Timo Küfner on Wednesday afternoon. There is no hot lead as yet. The Swabian North police headquarters confirmed that, to date, no reliable information about the perpetrator or perpetrators is available.
Media reports had spoken of a hand grenade and speculated about an attack by organised crime — the police view both sceptically. According to the newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine, the explosive device reportedly ricocheted off the reinforced glass of a Turkish jewellery shop. However, Küfner pointed out that other businesses were also affected, including a branch of a drugstore chain. "It is too early to make specific statements here," the spokesman said.
Around 200 officers from police, federal police and explosives specialists from the state criminal investigation office were at the scene. Explosives detection dogs were used to search the station for further explosive devices. When one of the dogs alerted at the station, a suspicious object was secured and examined — it proved to be harmless. The spokesman did not provide details about whether it was a bag or a suspiciously-looking metal object.
The station was temporarily sealed off, and train traffic was completely halted. For more than an hour, all regional and ICE services were affected. Augsburg lies on the busy route between Munich and Stuttgart; numerous commuters were affected by the closure. At around 10.30 a.m., the closure was lifted.
Source: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung