Left-wing saboteurs disrupt German rail services
Anarchist ‘Angry Bird Kommandos’ Arson of Critical Train Cables
On 31 July 2025, the anarchist group Kommando Angry Birds carried out a deliberate act of sabotage by setting fire to a Deutsche Bahn (DB) cable duct, effectively paralysing rail traffic along the vital Duisburg–Düsseldorf axis. The attack targeted a roughly 60-meter stretch of signalling and communications cabling, resulting in a complete shutdown of one of the most critical freight and passenger corridors in Europe. The consequences were immediate and widespread: hundreds of trains were delayed or cancelled, freight routes were forcibly diverted via Dortmund and Wuppertal, and thousands of commuters, including those transiting through Düsseldorf Airport, were left stranded. The disruption rippled across the Rhine-Alpine corridor, affecting logistics chains from Rotterdam to Milan.
While Deutsche Bahn has long been a symbolic and practical target for German anarchist and far-left extremist groups, the scale and precision of this attack mark a concerning escalation. Kommando Angry Birds, who claim to reject industrial civilisation and technological infrastructure as inherently oppressive, have demonstrated growing sophistication over the past year. Their targeting of railway infrastructure reflects a strategic understanding of how relatively simple acts of sabotage can cause disproportionate economic, logistical, and societal disruption.
This incident highlights the alarming ease with which critical infrastructure in Germany, and across Europe, can be sabotaged with minimal resources. Cable ducts, electrical substations, pylons, and other publicly accessible infrastructure are often poorly protected and widely documented in public records or mapping systems, not to mention the numerous how-to manuals being freely passed around. Saboteurs require little more than flammable materials, basic tools, and a knowledge of railway schematics to inflict millions of euros in economic losses and hours of logistical chaos. Such low-tech attacks bypass conventional security measures and surveillance systems, making them extremely difficult to prevent in advance.
TRAC has consistently warned about the expanding threat posed by left-wing extremist groups, particularly anarchists, whose ideology revolves around dismantling state structures and industrial society. While right-wing extremism often dominates public discourse in Europe, far-left actors continue to quietly build capacity, networks, and experience, particularly in Germany, France, Italy, and parts of North and South America. The DB sabotage shows how this threat is evolving from symbolic vandalism into strategic, high-impact disruption.
TRAC