‘Grenade’ explodes outside jewellery store, injuring two teenagers, near German train station
A suspected hand grenade exploded outside a Turkish jewellery shop near the train station in Augsburg, southern Germany, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, injuring two teenagers and shattering windows. Bomb disposal squads are investigating, and police believe the incident may be linked to organised crime, with the train station itself reportedly not the intended target. The attack adds to a tense summer in Germany, which has seen a string of explosions and suspected sabotage incidents across the country.
The blast occurred at around 3.15am on Bahnhofstraße, injuring a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old man, both Ukrainian nationals, who suffered ear damage and minor injuries. A second suspicious object was later found at the station, prompting a temporary shutdown of the transport hub until services resumed around 10am, though delays continued across the area. The explosion follows a rocket attack on a power plant near Brandenburg's Janschwalde site and last month's discovery of an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig Airport, an incident Berlin has formally blamed on Russia amid an ongoing campaign of alleged hybrid sabotage that Moscow denies.
- Grenade blast in Augsburg injures two Ukrainian teenagers near train station
- Police suspect organised crime link, not a station attack
- Comes amid a summer of explosions and sabotage incidents across Germany
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Augsburg is a city in the southern German state of Bavaria, and the incident happened near its main railway station in the early hours of the morning. A suspected hand grenade went off outside a Turkish-owned jewellery shop, injuring two teenagers and damaging nearby property, and investigators are now working to establish who was behind it and why.
Police have raised the possibility of a link to organised crime rather than terrorism, noting the station itself does not appear to have been the target. Explosions and disputes involving jewellery businesses have occasionally been tied to criminal rivalries or extortion in parts of Europe, though nothing has been confirmed in this case.
The attack also lands against a backdrop of heightened unease in Germany after a series of explosions and suspected sabotage incidents this summer, including attacks on energy infrastructure and a drone incident at an airport that officials have linked to Russia. This context has made authorities and the public more alert to any explosion, even where, as here, a criminal rather than a state-linked motive is suspected.