German police probe political motive as severed cables halt trains

Berlin: German police said Monday that they were investigating a possible "political motive" after train cables were cut between Cologne and Duesseldorf, with the country on high alert for sabotage from Russia and others.

"We discovered at around 01:15 am that several cables had been cut in a cable shaft in the Rheindorf area of Leverkusen," a Cologne police spokesman told AFP.

There was considerable disruption to services in the region, Cologne police said, adding that "a political motive cannot be excluded at this time".

The incident occurred in the densely populated part of western Germany and caused chaos for commuters in the region on Monday morning.

Officers specialised in politically motivated crime are investigating and "preliminary leads have been identified", police said.

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of people were left without power in the capital Berlin after a fire hit electricity cables in what police labelled a suspected arson attack.

In that case too, police said they were investigating a possible political motive after an unnamed anarchist group posted online that it had set the blaze.

Last month three fires hit parts of the German rail network, with a far-left group calling itself the "Angry Birds Kommando" saying it was behind at least one of them.

Germany has been the second-biggest supplier of aid to Ukraine after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and has accused Moscow of increasing efforts at "hybrid warfare".

Last week a report co-authored by the domestic intelligence agency found that the costs to German businesses from cyberattacks and sabotage, mainly from Russia and China, topped 289 billion euros ($342 billion) over the past 12 months.

German authorities recently launched a campaign warning against Russian efforts to recruit "disposable agents" via social media to carry out acts of espionage and sabotage.