German national security council meets on explosive drone find

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz convened the national security council Friday to discuss the discovery of an explosive-laden drone near a Ukrainian cargo plane and the mid-air collision of another aircraft with an unidentified object this week.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has called the incident at Leipzig-Halle airport -- a strategic hub for military and logistics transports -- in the early hours of Wednesday "a hybrid attack" that spelled "a new level of danger".

Berlin has not pointed the finger of blame, but Dobrindt said a "foreign power" may have been involved in the incident that follows a campaign of sabotage, espionage and disinformation that security services blame on Russia.

The airport in eastern Germany plays a key role in the transport of military goods by the German armed forces and NATO allies. It also serves as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.

According to the Bild daily an airport employee saw the drone hovering near the Ukrainian plane and brought it to the ground until police arrived.

Officers were then dispatched a bomb disposal robot, while air traffic was shut down for several hours, and the drone was later rendered harmless.

Prosecutors have said that the drone was equipped with "professional explosives and a detonator" and said that the only reason it didn't explode was that the detonator was defective.

While authorities have not named the type of explosive, unconfirmed media reports have said it was Semtex, a plastic explosive with industrial and military uses.

Semtex has been used by militants and insurgents including the IRA, and in 1988 was used to bring down a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

Prosecutors say the Leipzig incident was "a serious attack on Germany's transport and logistics infrastructure" which could have "threatened Germany's external and internal security".

The brief shutdown at the airport also prompted a cargo plane to abandon its planned landing.

That aircraft was then hit by an unidentified object in mid-air before it landed safely in Hanover, where "minor damage" to the aircraft was discovered.

German police have since searched the area near the site of impact for remnants of that object or any other clues, but so far without reporting any discoveries.

Germany is Ukraine's most important supplier of military equipment in its fight against Russia's invasion.

While the government has not accused Russia of being behind the latest incident, opposition politicians have pointed at Moscow, with the Greens' Katharina Droege telling Welt newspaper that it "could be an act of Russian state terrorism".