Echoes of 1970s as bombs shut down German lines

From: The Australian
October 17, 2011 12:00AM

GERMAN police have warned that a wave of firebomb attacks that paralysed railways around Berlin last week could mark the start of a far-left campaign of violence reminiscent of the Baader-Meinhof operations in the 1970s.

The 18 bombs caused no deaths or injuries but led to delays and cancellations of more than 2000 trains.

Prosecutors launched an investigation into “anti-constitutional sabotage”, a legal term denoting acts of terror intended to bring down the state.

Some of the bombs had been placed on high-speed railway lines, including the one between Berlin and Leipzig. A bomb on the line to Hamburg was one of two that ignited, damaging the track, but no trains were passing at the time. The line, one of the busiest in Germany, was shut down all last week.

A previously unknown group called Hekla has claimed responsibility. The group cited Germany’s role in Afghanistan as its motive for the campaign and demanded the release of Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of leaking confidential information to WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website.