Player injured, match postponed after explosions en route to stadium

DORTMUND, Germany - Three explosions rocked the Borussia Dortmund team bus, injuring Spain international Marc Bartra, as the German team headed to its Champions League quarterfinal against Monaco on Tuesday.

The first-leg match was postponed until Wednesday, and Bartra will undergo wrist surgery after being hit by flying glass.

The club said the other Dortmund players were "shocked" but uninjured.

"We are assuming this was a targeted attack against the Dortmund team," said Gregor Lange, the city's police chief.

An organized terror assault was not suspected, he added.

Local prosecutors also announced a letter was found close to the site of the blasts, which struck shortly after the bus departed from the squad's hotel.

"Its authenticity is being verified," prosecutor Sandra Luecke said, without disclosing details of the letter's contents.

The bus set off for Dortmund's stadium around 10 kilometers away when "three explosive charges detonated", said police.

The explosives, which went off shortly after 7 pm local time, were hidden in a hedge and were detonated as the bus passed.

The blast shattered the bus windows and the vehicle was burned on the right-hand side.

"The bus turned onto the main road, when there was a huge noise - a big explosion," Dortmund's Swiss goalkeeper Roman Burki told Swiss media.

"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."

Burki said Bartra was "hit by splinters of broken glass".

Dortmund's press spokesman confirmed the 26-year-old "will be operated on, he has broken the radius (bone) in his right wrist and there are foreign bodies in the arm".

The club said other players were safe and there was no danger inside Signal Iduna Park stadium.

Star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was seen being led away from the bus through traffic.

"The whole team is in a state of shock, you can't get pictures like that out of your head," Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke said.

"I hope the team will be in a position to be able to compete tomorrow on the pitch.

"In a crisis situation like this, Borussia pulls together."

Stunned stadium

The announcement that the game was postponed was only made to the stunned stadium about 15 minutes before the scheduled kickoff.

UEFA rearranged the match for 6.45 pm local time on Wednesday, and said the decision was made in consultation with the club and local authorities.

Dortmund relayed a copy of its Twitter announcement of the explosions inside the stadium to inform fans of events.

The club also urged fans in the stadium not to panic.

The venue slowly emptied before Monaco players came on the pitch for a short training session.

Dortmund's president Reinhard Rauball said he believed the team, which was thrashed 4-1 by Bundesliga rival Bayern Munich on Saturday, would be ready for Wednesday's match.

"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.

"The worst thing would be if whoever committed this attack was now able to get to affect them through it."

But former Dortmund player and Germany international Steffen Freund, who won the Champions League with Borussia in 1997, said there would be scars.

"When there has been a direct attack on the team bus, then it's not just forgotten by Wednesday," said the 47-year-old.

"Mentally and psychologically, it is hard to absorb ... it's a lot to deal with."

Dortmund police said security would be tightened on Wednesday, with a major deployment of officers to "ensure the game is played safely".

Separately, security was also being tightened at the other Champions League quarterfinal in the country on Wednesday - between Bayern and Spanish giant Real Madrid.

Germany has been on high alert since last December's terror attack in Berlin, when a Tunisian national hijacked a truck and rammed it into a crowd, killing 12 people.

The German national team, which included some Dortmund players, was also at Stade de France in Paris when jihadists attacked the French capital in November 2015, leaving 130 dead.

Injured Bartra's former team Barcelona quickly expressed its sympathies, tweeting: "All of our support to @MarcBartra, @BVB and their fans."

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also wished Bartra "a speedy recovery" via Twitter.

Sport under siege

Three explosions targeting the Borussia Dortmund team bus left one player injured and forced the postponement of Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal, first-leg match against Monaco in Germany. Here's a look back at five other attacks that rocked sporting events.

Munich massacre

Eleven Israeli athletes were murdered at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich after gunmen from the Palestinian Black September movement broke into the athletes village on Sept 5 and took them hostage. Two hostages were immediately shot dead and nine more were later killed, along with a police officer, during a bungled rescue operation.

Togo team ambushed

Three people were killed, including Togo's assistant manager, and nine others injured when the Togolese team bus was attacked by gunmen from a separatist group on Jan 8, 2010 as it traveled through the volatile Angolan province of Cabinda ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Cricketers attacked

Six Pakistani police and two civilians were killed when gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Sri Lanka's national cricket team on March 3, 2009, ahead of the third day's play of a Test match against Pakistan in Lahore. The attack was blamed on a Pakistani extremist group.

Panic in Paris

Three suicide bombers targeted Paris' Stade de France on Nov 13, 2015 as France hosted Germany in a soccer friendly on a night the city was rocked by a series of deadly attacks. One man was killed by a blast outside the stadium. The attacks left 130 dead.

Atlanta pipe bomb

Revellers were enjoying a rock concert during the Olympic Games at Atlanta's Centennial Park when a pipe bomb exploded in the early hours of July 27, 1996, killing two people and injuring more than 100. A US extremist was jailed for the attack.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 04/13/2017 page24)