Germany Rocked by Series of Incidents as Police Suspect Sabotage and Responsibility Letter Emerges
Translated from Croatian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
At a glance
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Under investigation
- German police suspect an attempted attack on the power grid in North Rhine-Westphalia was sabotage after finding devices near a transformer station in Dormagen.
- A handwritten letter sent to TAZ claimed responsibility for an earlier incident near Jรคnschwalde and condemned fossil-fuel power generation, but investigators have not verified its author.
- Investigators are examining possible links among incidents near Dormagen, Bergheim and Jรคnschwalde, none of which caused a power outage.
German police suspect sabotage after an apparent attempt to attack the electricity network in North Rhine-Westphalia. A police spokesman in Cologne said someone had evidently tried deliberately to cause a short circuit.
A person spotted suspicious objects in a field in Dormagenโs Gohr district at about 6:15 p.m. on Thursday and alerted police. According to BILD, the objects were devices for launching improvised rockets, reportedly fitted with timers and copper wires. Police said nothing happened and that they had not yet established how much damage the device could have caused.
Someone obviously deliberately tried to cause a short circuit.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether the objects resulted from a technical malfunction or whether the timers were intended to activate later. Officers searched other transformer stations in nearby areas for suspicious objects.
The Dormagen station lies 13 kilometers from the site of an attack on a transformer station in Bergheim. Another incident occurred near the Jรคnschwalde power plant. Investigators are checking whether the incidents, which took place several days earlier, are connected.
Nothing happened. It has not yet been established to what extent the object would have been capable of causing damage.
About 20 improvised rockets were reportedly placed near Jรคnschwalde, although only one apparently operated. The incident did not interrupt electricity supplies. Police later found six launch platforms near the Kรถln-Bergheim transformer station, where several lines suffered short circuits, again without causing a power outage.
After the Jรคnschwalde incident, TAZ received a letter claiming responsibility. Its postmark came from North Rhine-Westphalia. The handwritten letter described the improvised rockets and said, โThe production of electricity from fossil fuels is a crime that causes indescribable suffering.โ The writer added that the aim was to prevent or reduce that suffering. Authorities have not confirmed that the letterโs author carried out the incidents.
The production of electricity from fossil fuels is a crime that causes indescribable suffering.
About this summary
Originally published by Veฤernji List in Croatian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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