Germany launches manhunt after spate of sabotage attacks on power grid

German police are searching for a man who sent letters claiming responsibility for a series of sabotage attacks on the power grid this week after they found what appeared to be explosives at his home, officials said on Friday.

In the letters, sent to authorities and media, the 48-year-old man stated his opposition to fossil fuels as a motive for the attacks, the interior minister for the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, said on Friday evening.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, addressing the same press conference, said the evidence pointed to a case of "climate extremism".

Germany has been the focus of European fears about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure this week, ahead of a closely watched state election on Sunday where the far-right, Russia-friendly Alternative for Germany (AfD) leads the polls.

It also formally blamed Russia this week for a drone attack in August at Leipzig/Halle airport as part of hybrid warfare meant to intimidate and divide countries that have supported Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Russia has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

There are still unanswered questions about the sabotage on the power grid, including whether the wanted man actually carried out any of the attacks and whether he acted alone, Reul said.

German authorities have also not ruled out that the attacks were sponsored by a foreign state or carried out by left-wing extremists.

"We are currently facing a range of different threats and risks simultaneously. Sabotage, cyberattacks, covert operations, extremism and state terrorism – we are currently under threat from all these dangers at the same time," Dobrindt said.

The threats facing Germany and the number of attacks have increased and will likely continue - both state terrorism and extremism, he said.

"It is possible that these two factors are interlinked," he said.

His ministry had earlier said it was "no coincidence" that such "hybrid attacks" were happening on the eve of Sunday's election.

SPATE OF ATTACKS

The suspect claimed responsibility for an attack on a substation in Bergheim near Cologne on Tuesday that knocked five power generation units offline after conductive material was apparently launched onto high-voltage infrastructure, causing a short circuit.

Police later found several launch devices near the site.

The second suspected sabotage attempt claimed by the wanted man was discovered on Thursday evening in Dormagen, south of Duesseldorf, where a passer-by spotted pipes fitted with cables and timers aimed at a substation.

Police subsequently found two launch devices in the area.

Reul said the letters named additional targets, including a substation in Weisweiler near the city of Aachen in western Germany.

As the ministers were speaking, Bild reported that suspected explosives or incendiary devices had also been found on overhead power lines at two substations in Saxony's Goerlitz district, prompting a police operation at facilities linked to the Lusatian lignite mining and power generation region.

In another sabotage incident this week, devices carrying conductive material damaged power lines at one of the most critical high-voltage nodes in the eastern state of Brandenburg.

Police have not ruled out links between this case and the ones the man claimed responsibility for.

A spokesperson for Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the number of attacks that had been foiled or been unsuccessful was "a sign of how our security measures work – and that they do work".