Left-wing extremist group claims responsibility for arson attack on railway line near Leverkusen
A cable bundle caught fire near a station in Leverkusen. The Cologne–Düsseldorf line was affected. A radical group has claimed responsibility online.
Left-wing extremist group claims responsibility for arson attack on railway line near Leverkusen
A cable bundle caught fire near a Leverkusen railway station. The incident caused severe disruptions to train traffic between Cologne and Düsseldorf. Security authorities suspect the fire was deliberately set. An organisation from the left-wing extremist milieu has claimed responsibility for the incident on an online platform. This is reported by Digi24.ro with reference to AFP and Agerpres.
Railway staff noticed the flames in the early morning of last Friday. Police issued a statement the following Saturday afternoon. Due to the damage, there were restrictions on Deutsche Bahn's operations on this heavily used route in Germany's most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Investigators are assuming deliberate arson. According to authorities, a political background cannot be ruled out, as a letter appeared online in which a group claimed responsibility for the action.
A text by the self-proclaimed group "Kommando Angry Birds" appeared on the left-wing extremist website Indymedia on Saturday morning. In it, the authors describe in detail how they disabled the railway link north of Leverkusen.
The organisation justified its action with resistance against "industrial technology", which in their view endangers humanity. In September of the previous year, the same group had claimed responsibility for a similar attack in the region.
Germany's railway infrastructure has been targeted by sabotage acts several times recently. Most of these cases have remained unsolved so far. The Federal Republic is also facing pressure from disinformation and cyberattacks that are largely attributed to Moscow.
The most recent annual report of the domestic intelligence service, which was presented at the end of June, also warns of espionage activities from China, Islamist terrorists with alleged support from Iran, and violent right-wing extremists.
Source: Digi24