Manhunt under way in Berlin after bag of explosives left at train station

31 October 2024 - 12:42
By Rachel More
Firefighters work outside a restaurant on Oranienburger street in downtown Berlin, Germany, on October 31 2024.
Image: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse Firefighters work outside a restaurant on Oranienburger street in downtown Berlin, Germany, on October 31 2024.

German police are searching for a man who abandoned a bag of explosives at a Berlin train station and ran away after being stopped by federal officers, according to police.

“We are investigating all possibilities,” a police spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday, adding that authorities had not yet been able to identify the suspect.

Police said they stopped the man in the German capital's Neukölln station on Wednesday afternoon. He fled the scene and explosives were found in the bag he left behind, according to a post on social media platform X.

Firefighters work outside a restaurant on Oranienburger street in downtown Berlin, Germany, on October 31 2024.
Image: REUTERS/Annegret Hilse Firefighters work outside a restaurant on Oranienburger street in downtown Berlin, Germany, on October 31 2024.

The bag was brought to a nearby park where a controlled explosion took place, the post said.

The Bild newspaper reported that the bag had contained triacetone triperoxide, an unstable white explosive powder known as TATP and often used in extremist attacks on the public.

Police could neither confirm nor deny the report on the type of explosive.

Reuters