German Railway Line Reopens After Suspected Sabotage Attack

The crucial railway line connecting Düsseldorf and Cologne has reopened after being closed since Friday due to a suspected arson attack. Deutsche Bahn reported that train traffic is now operating without restrictions after extensive repair work.

The incident involved fires on the embankment between Langenfeld and Leverkusen on Friday morning. While firefighters extinguished the blazes, the fires damaged multiple signal cables, leading to the complete shutdown of train services on the affected section. Repair crews worked continuously to fix the extensive cable damage, with Deutsche Bahn completing the work by early evening and apologizing for the inconvenience to travelers.

Authorities are investigating the incident as a suspected act of sabotage. A statement claiming responsibility, attributed to the group "Kommando Angry Birds," which has been linked to previous attacks on railway lines, appeared on the platform indymedia.org. The group claimed responsibility for sabotaging the railway line north of Leverkusen, stating they had placed incendiary devices in a large cable shaft and a smaller one.

Security circles believe the statement is genuine, and a technical defect causing the embankment fire is considered unlikely. North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul condemned the act, stating, "Such acts are not protest, but targeted sabotage." He criticized the perpetrators for causing chaos and disrupting the daily lives of many people, particularly during a dry period, and accused them of seeking to replace politics with violence. Police are seeking witnesses to the incident.

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Such acts are not protest, but targeted sabotage. That affects the everyday lives of many people and accepts 'collateral damage' with a shrug. These fanatics claim to want to create a world in which plants, animals and humans are better off. And then they commit arson, precisely now, when there is drought everywhere. That alone shows: these people do not want a better world. These people want chaos. They aim to replace politics with violence. We do not accept that.