An explosion close to a train station in Germany prompted a temporary closure of the transport hub in Augsburg on Wednesday morning. Authorities later confirmed that a suspicious object found was harmless, leading to the reopening of the station at 10 a.m. with train services resuming.
Police spokesperson Timo Küfner stated that the object discovered in front of the main train station posed no threat, allowing for the station’s reopening. The incident occurred when an unidentified object exploded near the station passageway around 3:15 a.m., causing minor injuries to a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man, both Ukrainian citizens.
Following the initial explosion, another suspicious object was found at the train station, which did not detonate. This discovery led to the station’s closure at 8:30 a.m. while explosives experts from the Bavarian state criminal police office conducted investigations at the scene.
Küfner mentioned that it was too early to determine a motive for the explosion but confirmed that investigations were ongoing. The disruption caused by the incident affected road traffic and public transportation in the vicinity of the station during the early morning hours.
Reports indicated that a hand grenade detonated near a jewelry store early in the morning, suggesting that the train station was not the primary target. Augsburg, a city in Bavaria with a population of 308,000 residents, is located approximately 78 kilometers northwest of Munich.
In a related development, the German government had recently accused Russia of an attempted attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport using a drone laden with explosives. This incident, which took place on August 4 near a Ukrainian plane, underscored heightened concerns about security threats posed by such actions.
Amid accusations of Russian interference in Europe to undermine support for Ukraine and destabilize European countries, the incident at the Augsburg train station added to existing security challenges in the region.