Germany investigates possible attack on water system at military base

The German armed forces are investigating the suspected sabotage of one of their military bases amid suspicions that it was broken into and the water supply system contaminated.

The defence ministry confirmed on Wednesday that state security was investigating the reported attack after suspicions of attempted or actual entry, as well as sabotage, at the Cologne-Wahn barracks, just outside Cologne.

The parliamentary defence committee was informed about a “serious indication” of sabotage, a ministry spokesperson added.

Suspicions were raised on Tuesday night at the major military base close to Cologne-Bonn airport, which houses airfields and other barracks, where one or several people are thought to have broken in and tampered with the water supply pipes. The base was sealed off on Wednesday morning, with no one allowed to enter or leave. There had been reports of abnormalities in the water, a spokesperson confirmed, without giving more detail.

Elsewhere, a Nato base outside the German town of Geilenkirchen faced an attempted trespassing incident on Tuesday, with the military alliance saying a person had been stopped while trying to enter the base. Police were investigating the incident. A spokesperson for the base denied earlier media reports that it had been sealed off.

Like much of the rest of Europe, Germany is on high alert after a spate of arson attacks, espionage and attacks on infrastructure often blamed on Russia as it finds different ways of fighting its war with the west away from the battlefield in Ukraine.

Lt Col Ulrich Fonrobert, a spokesperson for the military in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, said the armed forces were taking the incidents very seriously. “Last night there was an incident at the barracks. This incident has led to the barracks having been shut since then,” he said outside the base.

He said the alarm had been raised after a report of “abnormal water values”, but did not elaborate except to say an analysis of the base’s drinking water was being carried out.

The base was reopened at about midday.

A spokesperson for the defence ministry said that state security had been informed, and that no one had been harmed.

Security guards were alerted on Tuesday night to a person fleeing the Cologne-Wahn base, after electronic sensors on the waterworks on the site were triggered, but they were unable to apprehend the person. A hole was later discovered in a fence.

A message broadcast to everyone at the base warned personnel to address any “unknown person they see” and to “report any suspicious behaviour”.

An internal memo urgently warned solders and civilian forces against drinking from the water supply and from showering. Military police secured forensic evidence at the water supply works.

According to Spiegel magazine, members of the military airport police stationed at the base had filed several reports of gastrointestinal complaints, though it is unclear whether this was connected to the reported act of sabotage.

The magazine said the Cologne-Wahn base was home to several command authorities as well as military and civilian departments of the Bundeswehr which employs 4,300 members of the armed forces and 1,200 civilians. The Ministry of Defence department for coordinating air transport for politicians is also headquartered there.

It is an important hub for the west’s military support for Ukraine. Ukrainian military personnel being trained in Germany regularly use it as a base from which to return home via Poland.