A new kind of terrorist attack targeted an airplane — and could wreak travel nightmares

A German airport that serves as a logistics hub was seemingly targeted as part of a plot carried out by enemies of the West.

How they did it is a wake-up call about the vulnerability of air travel worldwide.

'All of this does not point to an amateurish approach.'

Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany almost became the site of disaster, but whether it was luck or poor execution, a mass causality event was barely avoided.

The airport is used by German military and its NATO allies for military transport, the BBC reported, but at the same time, it serves as a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.

Ukrainian aerial cargo was the apparent target when a drone was spotted carrying an explosive device near the Antonov planes.

The drone was fitted with military-grade explosives including Semtex and Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). Fortunately, the detonator on the drone apparently malfunctioned, rendering the explosives useless, the Financial Times said, per German police.

A bomb-defusing robot was deployed to remove the detonator from the device, and police later carried out a controlled explosion to dispose of the material.

Moreover, a second unidentified object actually made contact with a cargo aircraft near the same airport, but the plane seemingly absorbed the blow and later landed in Hanover, Germany, with minor damage.

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NEWS5/AFP/Getty Images

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the incidents showed "a new level of threat" but warned the job was complex and professional, not a slapped-together device.

"All of this does not point to an amateurish approach. We are talking about a professional, hybrid threat scenario that we will continue to address."

Without naming names, Dobrindt said that the attack "may also involve foreign powers."

The claim comes as Polish authorities have alleged that U.S. intelligence forwarded them warnings that Russia could soon be looking to carry out an attack on NATO allies.

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John MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images

According to LBC, Warsaw recently received intelligence from Washington that Russia could be planning an armed provocation (drone or missile strikes) on Polish soil, with the aim of escalating tensions among the West, which would lead to the suspension of support for Ukraine.

The warning included the possibility of an attack on what was described as critical Polish infrastructure, which could involve Russian or Belarusian troops crossing into NATO territory.

The United States "systematically informs Poland about ever-new Russian plans for a conventional attack on NATO's eastern flank, from which Poland is by no means excluded," a source close to the Polish president told LBC.

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