{"id":67832,"date":"2026-08-06T13:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/67832\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:10:24","slug":"explosive-drone-at-german-airport-raises-new-danger-minister-says-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/67832\/","title":{"rendered":"Explosive Drone at German Airport Raises New Danger, Minister Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

BERLIN, Aug 5 (Reuters) – German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the \u2060explosive-laden \u2060drone found near a runway at Leipzig\/Halle \u2060airport overnight was a hybrid attack which opened a new level of danger.<\/p>\n

Germany opened a counterterrorism \u200binvestigation on Wednesday after the drone prompted the closure of parts of one of Europe’s biggest cargo hubs.<\/p>\n

“Drone sightings and drone threats in a hybrid \u200ccontext are something we have known from \u200cthe past, but a drone armed with explosives being present on airport grounds is a new threat scenario,” Dobrindt said, after an \u2060emergency meeting with the \u2060heads of Germany’s security services on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Airport workers discovered the drone in a \u200brestricted cargo area near the southern runway overnight. Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some owned by German logistics firm DHL, were diverted.<\/p>\n

Authorities said there had been no danger to passengers or airport staff and most operations resumed by morning after one runway was reopened.<\/p>\n

All speculation about the explosives, the \u200bdrone, its origin, and who is behind it, is now part of the investigation, the interior minister said.<\/p>\n

“It is part of \u2060the \u2060nature of hybrid threats that it \u2060is not always immediately \u200bclear where they originate,” Dobrindt said.<\/p>\n

DIVERTED PLANE HITS UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT<\/p>\n

Investigators were also examining what a cargo plane had struck in \u200bthe air after being diverted from \u2060the airport in eastern Germany during the disruption.<\/p>\n

Minor damage was discovered after it landed in Hanover, authorities said. A source familiar with the incident said the plane belonged to DHL.<\/p>\n

The southern runway of the airport, a major hub for DHL and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, remained closed while explosives experts examined the drone and removed its detonator, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

LATEST IN A SERIES OF DRONE THREATS<\/p>\n

German airports are on high alert after \u2060a series of unauthorised drone overflights at sites including military facilities, energy terminals, seaports and logistics companies.<\/p>\n

“What is \u2060happening now also shows that the assessment made months ago \u2014 that we are dealing with a high level of danger \u2014 was justified,” Dobrindt told reporters.<\/p>\n

Federal police have said the overflights could have been organised by Russian agents.<\/p>\n

Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that the Leipzig drone had been found lying in the immediate vicinity of a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane. The airline has used Leipzig\/Halle as an operating base since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.<\/p>\n

Anti-extremism prosecutors and counterterrorism officers took over the investigation after experts confirmed the drone was carrying explosives.<\/p>\n

“Such threat situations are not carried out by amateurs, but must be prepared very professionally and executed professionally,” Dobrindt told reporters.<\/p>\n

European security agencies have been investigating a series of incendiary devices concealed in \u2060parcels that caught fire in 2024, raising concerns about sabotage of air cargo operators.<\/p>\n

Some of the devices were found at a DHL warehouse in Leipzig and in freight shipments in transit across Europe.<\/p>\n

An Interior Ministry spokesperson said no connection with Tuesday night’s incident could be determined at this stage.<\/p>\n

Russia has denied any involvement in the 2024 incidents and the more \u200brecent overflights.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Friederike Heine, Markus Wacket, Miranda Murray and Maria Martinez in Berlin and Matthias Inverardi \u200bin Duesseldorf; Editing by Sabine Wollrab, Kevin Liffey and Daniel Wallis)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters.<\/p>\n

Photos You Should See: August 2026<\/p>\n

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