Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Two drones were spotted flying over a German military base earlier this week, just two days after a drone carrying explosives was found at a key cargo airport, the German Armed Forces said on Saturday.
The latest sighting came amid a wider rise in reports of drones near civilian and cargo airports in Europe. German authorities are investigating the military base incident, while the explosives found at Leipzig/Halle Airport have added to concerns over what Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt called a “new quality of danger”.
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According to a statement from the German Joint Force Command, security surveillance at the Bundeswehr base in Mechernich in western Germany reported seeing two drones at around 10 pm on Thursday. The sightings were confirmed and military police were sent to the site. The military said the Euskirchen police department has opened an investigation. Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the military did not give further details.
The sighting at the base came after a drone with explosives was found at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The device was defused. Dobrindt said the incident posed a “new quality of danger”.
Leipzig/Halle is a major hub for international freight and for providing support to Ukraine. Aircraft that regularly use the airport include Ukrainian Antonov transport planes. It is also home to NATO’s Strategic Airlift International Solution, or SALIS, which is currently operating almost every day to deliver equipment to NATO battle groups along its eastern flank, from Finland to Romania, and to support European Union and alliance nation missions.
Drone sightings over civilian and cargo airports have been reported more widely in recent times. Last year, unexplained drone flights over the airspace of European Union member countries raised alarm among the public and authorities, and led to the cancellation of dozens of flights, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.
In 2024, an incendiary device ignited at a logistics centre at Leipzig/Halle Airport and set fire to a freight container. Western security officials suspect it was part of a plot organised by Russian intelligence. Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. The Russian Embassy in Germany on Friday called the Leipzig drone incident part of a “new wave of anti-Russian hysteria in Germany”.
The incidents at the military base and Leipzig/Halle Airport have added to concerns in Germany, as authorities investigate the latest drone sightings and examine possible security risks around sensitive transport and military facilities.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
