The western German city of Cologne saw a small explosion for the second time in a week early on Wednesday.
The explosion occurred at about 5:00 local time in the city center, on Ehrenstrasse, a street lined with shops and apartments, police said. The explosion caused a fire, but this could be quickly extinguished, according to police.
Police said that one person who had tried to douse the flames avoided injury and was later queried as a witness and that nobody else was hurt.
State police wrote on social media site X that “we are on the scene with a large contingent of officers” and that “we are closing down the area.” They called on the public to avoid the area near the scene of the explosion.
Windows were blown out at the site of the blast, a clothing store. The location is only a few hundred meters from the site of another explosion two days prior.
Second explosion in Cologne in 3 days
Authorities have not indicated if there is a connection between the two explosions.
“It’s not possible to make a link now,” a police spokesman told the dpa news agency. “We are right at the beginning of our investigation.”
The earlier explosion took place in the early hours of Monday morning outside a nightclub, injuring a member of cleaning staff as rubble fell.
Cologne police are seeking a man identified on CCTV cameras in connection with Monday’s explosion after he was seen seemingly placing a burning blue bag at the scene beforehand.
The police spokesman said no such police observation cameras were stationed at the site of Wednesday’s explosion, and so he was not yet sure if it had been caught on camera.
There have been reports in recent months of small explosions across the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), where Cologne is located, due to gang-related activity.
In the Netherlands, setting off small explosions outside buildings is a common intimidation tactic for some drug traffickers. NRW borders the Netherlands and is on the obvious route from there to central and eastern Europe, as well as the rest of Germany.
msh/sms (AFP, dpa)
