{German football club was en route to stadium for a Champions League quarter-final when three bombs went off.}<\/p>\n
German investigators are hunting for possible suspects responsible for three explosions that rocked Dortmund football team’s bus, injuring a player.<\/p>\n
The assault, described by Dortmund city’s police chief as a “targeted attack” against the team, shook German football before a Champions League quarter-final at home to Monaco.<\/p>\n
Borussia Dortmund’s team bus was attacked with explosives on Tuesday shortly before the start of the match, injuring defender Marc Bartra and forcing the quarter-final to be postponed by a day.<\/p>\n
German police said they did not know who was behind the attack, in which three explosions went off at 7:15pm near the hotel where the team was staying, but said the team appeared to be the target.<\/p>\n
Investigations will also focus on a letter claiming responsibility for the attack that was found close to the site of the blasts.<\/p>\n
“The letter claims responsibility for what happened,” prosecutor Sandra Luecke said late Tuesday, telling journalists that “its authenticity is being verified”.<\/p>\n
German authorities have held off from describing it as a terror attack, saying that it is too early to determine the motive.<\/p>\n
The blast shattered the bus windows and the vehicle was burned on the right hand side.<\/p>\n
“The bus turned on to the main road, when there was a huge noise – a big explosion,” Dortmund’s Swiss goalkeeper Roman Burki told Swiss media.<\/p>\n
“After the bang, we all crouched down in the bus. Anyone who could, threw himself on the floor. We did not know if more would come.”<\/p>\n
Burki said Marc Bartra was “hit by splinters of broken glass”. Dortmund’s press spokesman said the 26-year-old had broken the radius bone in his right wrist.<\/p>\n
Dortmund said Bartra had an operation on Tuesday after “breaking the radial bone in his arm and getting bits of debris lodged in his hand”.<\/p>\n
Dortmund’s president Reinhard Rauball said he believed the team would be ready for Wednesday’s game.<\/p>\n
“The players will be able to push this out of their minds and be in a position to put in their usual performances,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The worst thing would be if whoever committed this attack was now able to get to affect them through it.”<\/p>\n
‘Lot to deal with’<\/p>\n
But ex-Dortmund player Steffen Freund, who won the Champions League with Borussia in 1997, said there would be scars.<\/p>\n
“When there has been a direct attack on the team bus, then it’s not just forgotten by Wednesday,” said the 47-year-old.<\/p>\n
“Mentally and psychologically that is hard to absorb, it’s a lot to deal with.”<\/p>\n
Dortmund police said security would be tightened at Wednesday’s match, with a major deployment of officers to “ensure that the game is played safely”.<\/p>\n
The club said other players were safe and there was no danger inside the Signal Iduna Park stadium.<\/p>\n
“The news that the game had to be called off was received very calmly,” Al Jazeera’s Dominic Kane reported from outside the stadium.<\/p>\n
“Many of the fans of Monaco, the opposition team, were chanting Dortmund’s name – in effect expressing their solidarity with the plight of the fans, the team and the player injured in this incident.”<\/p>\n
Germany has been on high alert since a series of attacks last year, including the Christmas market truck assault in Berlin in December that claimed 12 lives. <\/p>\n
Source:Al Jazeera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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