A serious attack attempt on a transformer station in the German city Erkrath became known this week through a claim of responsibility on Indymedia. An accompanying manual calls for the establishment of a sabotage network.
On the German “Indymedia” platform, a group called “Kommando Angry Birds” has apparently claimed responsibility for a previously unknown attack on a transformer station in Erkrath near Düsseldorf (North Rhine-Westfalia). The act had failed and only became known through the posting published on Monday, as confirmed by the prosecutor’s office. When police inspected the transformer station on site, they discovered that an incendiary device had indeed been placed there.
In the claim of responsibility, the group justifies its actions with the comprehensive and early-onset burden on the human body from environmental toxins, radiation, and microplastics. This also indicates that the attack attempt must have been carried out some time ago, when it was still warmer. They did not want anyone to freeze, it states.
The target of the attack was an industrial area on Max-Planck-Straße in Erkrath. According to business directories, many small and medium-sized companies are located there. “If it had worked, there could possibly have been a large-scale power outage,” said investigating prosecutor Wolf-Timan Baumert to WDR. Meanwhile, state security in Düsseldorf has taken over the investigation.
Incendiary device with nine liters of barbecue lighter fluid
“Kommando Angry Birds” had already claimed responsibility for an attack on a signal cable shaft on the main railway line between Düsseldorf and Duisburg at the end of July. Alongside a “Vulkangruppe,” which is said to have recently caused a major power outage in Berlin, as well as unknown saboteurs in Munich and its surrounding region, the “Kommando” is thus among the currently active militant structures in Germany.
For the undetonated incendiary device in Erkrath, the group claims to have filled nine liters of barbecue lighter fluid into 18 half-liter plastic bottles and placed them in a large cooking pot with a pyrotechnic igniter. According to the public broadcaster WDR, graffiti was still visible on the walls of a transformer building on Wednesday. “Kommando Angry Birds” is said to have sprayed its abbreviation “KAB” as well as “Switch off” there with red spray paint. Under this name, unknown individuals operate a blog that documents attacks in Germany and neighboring countries, particularly France.
In addition to the claim of responsibility on “Indymedia,” the post also linked to a 36-page PDF dated January 2026 with the title “Move fast and break things.” The title is likely an allusion to the well-known motto of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, which represents a Silicon Valley ideology: to act as quickly as possible, even if damage initially occurs. “Kommando Angry Birds” wants to apply this principle to building a nationwide sabotage network.
“Underground network of approximately 60 people”
“Let’s assume that an underground network of approximately 60 people manages to form unnoticed. That would correspond to 0.00000067 percent of Germans, less than the proverbial one in a million,” the text states. 50 of them could “form into ten cells of five members each” and dedicate themselves to direct actions.
“The cells prepare thoroughly by acquiring and hiding the necessary tools, scouting targets, and learning the appropriate skills,” it states regarding the procedure. The Reuß group, consisting of Reichsbürger, is cited as a negative example, which “despite miserable security culture, was able to operate undisturbed for some time and even establish considerable weapons caches.” The Kommando attributes “the most egregious security gaps” to the Reichsbürger and concludes: “We can do better.”
Resistance movements in the past often relied on support “from a foreign state power,” the Kommando explains. “We don’t have this luxury.” With this, the group also rejects suspicions of Russian involvement, which authorities have expressed in connection with recent acts of sabotage in Berlin and Munich. “While we were writing this text, Interior Minister Dobrindt commented on the topic to ‘Welt,’” according to the authors, who describe the CSU politician’s statements as a “propaganda piece” for which “all evidence is lacking.”
Scenarios for coordinated attacks
The document “Move fast and break things” describes as a scenario a coordinated strike at up to 50 crime scenes in Germany, for example against the railway: “Burning signal cables, short-circuited overhead lines, signal lights shot out with air rifles, sawed-through power poles, drilled cooling systems of transformers in railway substations, broken glass and glued locks on service buildings and parked locomotives, damaged trucks of DB Schenker Group and much more.” This could bring all rail traffic in Germany to a standstill for several days.
In further waves, other areas of critical infrastructure could be attacked. “After a few months, it could be 50 cell towers. A few months later, ten high-voltage lines. Or the truck fleets and offices of two dozen logistics companies. After that, perhaps all airports would be paralyzed with drones.” So far, such disruptions in air traffic have mostly been attributed to Russia.
The document also mentions “more intensive forms of action” that should “not be categorically ruled out” – including the blowing up of a railway bridge. “Transformer housings and the insulators on high-voltage towers also react very positively to rifle fire.” However, “Kommando Angry Birds” wants to avoid harm to people: “Terrorism against soft targets of flesh and blood” is explicitly not part of their considerations.
“Aura of unstoppability”
According to this thought experiment, such attacks could trigger a chain reaction: Domestic and foreign capital as well as polluting industry would emigrate. Rating agencies would downgrade the country’s creditworthiness. International partners would “doubt Germany’s ability to function as a ‘NATO hub.’” Taken together, according to the presentation, this would pressure the government to respond with tightened security and surveillance measures, which in turn would increase social discontent and delegitimize state repression.
State repression is also considered in the manual for sabotage networks: “If the police achieve a major investigative success during this time, the rest of the network would have to go underground, wait, and reform after some time.” This is not portrayed exclusively negatively: “A movement that shows it can rise again after catastrophes secures a certain respect in public opinion.” These “revolutionaries” could thus “claim the aura of unstoppability.” And according to the manual, it would not be the end of the sabotage movement, but would contribute to the founding of additional networks domestically and abroad.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: In its manual, “Kommando Angry Birds” also publishes instructions for building a “cable fire timer.” However, they claim they did not want to use this at the transformer station due to possible interference from radiation (Kommando Angry Birds).
