German anti-terror police probe explosive drone found at Leipzig airport

German counterterrorism authorities are investigating an explosive-laden drone discovered overnight at Leipzig airport. An airport worker found the drone carrying an explosive device in a restricted cargo area late Tuesday, according to Dresden Public Prosecutor's office and Saxony state police. A police bomb disposal robot examined the drone before officers disarmed the device by removing its detonator.

Airport officials temporarily suspended flights and diverted several aircraft. One of the diverted planes, a DHL cargo aircraft, struck another flying object while climbing away from the airport. After landing in Hanover, officials found signs of impact on the aircraft's nose. Officials told WELT that the detonator failed to function, preventing an explosion. The drone was found just meters from a Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft and contained Semtex — the explosive used in the bomb that brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.

According to WELT, security authorities have internally classified the incident as an attempted attack. No suspects had been detained as of Wednesday evening. Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt interrupted his summer vacation in Italy to meet officials in Leipzig. Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster described the incident as a "very serious security incident."

Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, suggested Moscow could be behind the incident. "I hope that all the authorities in Germany will now establish the facts as well. But who else could it have been besides Russia?" he said on WELT TV. Russia's embassy to Germany didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Leipzig airport is DHL's largest European air hub and serves as an aircraft maintenance base for some Ukrainian Antonov aircraft.