BERLIN - Authorities confirmed Wednesday that a drone loaded with explosives was located at Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport and promptly defused, an event the nation's top security official called a fresh level of threat.

Both runways at the key freight facility were shut down and multiple flights including a passenger aircraft were rerouted after an unidentified flying object appeared nearby just before midnight on Tuesday. An explosives-handling robot was sent to inspect an item close to the south runway.

Local police and prosecutors stated that an airport worker found a drone near the south runway containing an unidentified explosive device which officers examined and disarmed by removing its detonator.

The presence of explosives on the drone represents a new quality of danger German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters after cutting short his holiday to visit the site.

Drone sightings and threats including in hybrid situations are familiar from earlier cases he noted but a drone equipped with explosives at an airport creates an unprecedented risk scenario.

Dobrindt characterized the event as a hybrid attack scenario without providing further specifics on the official evaluation or potential perpetrators.

Questions regarding the explosives details the drone's origin and those responsible remain part of the active inquiry he said.

Saxony state's regional interior minister Armin Schuster indicated that authorities continue searching for components of a possible second drone.

Police and prosecutors reported that what appeared to be a second flying object struck a cargo plane after the aircraft aborted its landing due to the closed runway and proceeded to Hannover airport roughly 200 kilometers northwest where minor damage was discovered.

The north runway at Leipzig/Halle reopened after approximately two hours while the south runway was already planned for maintenance on Wednesday. Officials emphasized no risk existed for passengers or staff and daytime operations proceeded normally.

Images from the location depicted police specialists operating an explosives robot near a Ukrainian aircraft as the airport serves as a primary cargo center hosting Ukrainian Antonov transport planes.

NATO acknowledged awareness of the occurrence but directed all inquiries to German authorities.

During 2024 an incendiary device activated at an airport logistics facility igniting a freight container in a scheme Western security sources believe involved Russian intelligence with the intended flight delayed as a result.

Western officials have charged Russia and associated groups with conducting numerous attacks and incidents throughout Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.