Cologne, Germany: two bomb attacks in three days. Germany’s new normal.

Cologne, the city in Germany’s affluent Northwest once known for its cathedral and carnival, is now becoming infamous for bombs.

Two days after the explosion at the Vanity nightclub on the Hohenzollernring, another bombing is holding the center of Cologne in suspense. Early Wednesday morning (Sept. 18), there was an explosion in Cologne’s Ehrenstrasse at the LFDY clothing store. According to initial reports, one person was reportedly slightly injured.

According to Cologne police, the incident is similar to Monday’s. There was an explosion on the Hohenzollernring, also in the early morning hours. The crime scenes are within a few minutes’ walk of each other and both crimes were committed at almost the same time.
Two explosions in downtown Cologne within just three days raise the question: is there a connection between the incidents? Who is behind them? What are the possible motivations?

Cologne: police continue to search for suspect after explosion at Vanity disco

The background of both crimes is still not entirely clear. Police are looking for a suspect after Monday’s incident.
The man was caught on surveillance cameras. Police released images showing the man wearing a hooded sweatshirt. He is carrying a blue shopping bag that may have contained the accelerant. The bag would then be placed in front of the nightclub window and set on fire.

It is not yet clear if surveillance footage of the new crime exists. The images released Monday came from Hohenzollernring police video surveillance, and private recordings also documented the events directly in front of Vanity. Several locations in Cologne are reportedly under police video surveillance. “We do not have police video surveillance on Ehrenstrasse. If there are images, we rely on other video surveillance,” the spokesman said. “So there must be images of adequate quality, if there are any.”

Based on witness statements, Cologne police are looking for a thin man about 6 feet tall. He is said to have smashed through the glass front door, placed a shopping bag with an incendiary device in the store, and fled toward Mittelstrasse. A few seconds later, the store’s entrance was engulfed in flames.

Explosions in Cologne: police grope in the dark

On Wednesday, police clarified that a connection could not initially be presumed. “It is not possible to establish a connection now,” a police spokesman said. “We are only at the beginning of the investigation.”

A link to several explosions in North Rhine-Westphalia that may have to do with the so-called Mocro-mafia, the Moroccan immigrant-linked mafia raging in the Netherlands, which is very powerful and has also expanded into northern Germany, is also being investigated.

“Mocro-mafia,” or Dutch drug gangs, regularly use explosives as a threat in front of houses. These are organized criminal groups allegedly responsible for, among other things, a kidnapping in Rosenkirchen.

In recent weeks and months, there have also been several explosions in front of building entrances in Köln-Mülheim, Buchheim, and Zündorf. These and other explosions in Düsseldorf, Duisburg, and Engelskirchen are allegedly the work of the “Mocro” mob.

Police still have no concrete information about the background to the crimes of Monday and Wednesday. “We are not ruling out anything,” a police spokesman said Tuesday about the possible perpetrators of the murder on the Hohenzollernring. The investigation is ongoing, but German investigators are completely unprepared to fight such a criminal organization. Another German city slips into chaos