He didn’t name Russia directly but Poland has experienced a series of major arson and sabotage attacks in recent years, including parcel bombings, that it sees as part of Moscow’s hybrid war on the West.<\/p>\n
Poland’s railway network is a critical part of the military supply lines for neighbouring Ukraine as well as a route for civilians moving in and out of the country.<\/p>\n
Investigators are looking into a second incident that occurred further down the same line on Sunday, where a packed train was forced to stop suddenly. It’s thought “very likely” to be another case of sabotage \u2013 though not an explosion.<\/p>\n
“These events show that the people behind it have decided to begin a new phase of threatening the railway infrastructure,” Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said.<\/p>\n
Russia always denies any role in such attacks.<\/p>\n
The damage near Mika, about 100km (60 miles) south-east of Warsaw, was detected at around 07:30 local time (06:30 GMT) on Sunday morning by a train driver who was forced to make an emergency stop.<\/p>\n
Photographs from the scene appear to show a section of track missing. There were only two passengers and several staff on board the train and no one was hurt.<\/p>\n
On Monday the interior minister confirmed that the use of explosives was “beyond any doubt”, though he didn’t go into detail, citing the ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n
A local resident told Polish TV he had heard a blast the previous evening.<\/p>\n
“It shook the whole building, the windows… it all trembled so much,” the man said, adding that people several kilometres away had felt the impact.<\/p>\n
He thought at first it was a gas explosion, or a falling drone. A police patrol investigated but found nothing untoward.<\/p>\n
The following morning, several trains passed over the damaged section of track and one reported the problem back to base but the line was not closed.<\/p>\n
No suspects have yet been detained but officials say police have collected a significant amount of evidence, including footage from nearby security cameras, to help identify who carried out this “shameful act of sabotage”.<\/p>\n