Soccer player injured as blast hits bus

DORTMUND, Germany — Three explosions went off near the team bus of Borussia Dortmund, one of Germany’s top soccer clubs, as it set off for a Champions League quarterfinal match on Tuesday evening. One of Dortmund’s players was injured.

Police said they were working on the assumption that the blasts were directed at the Dortmund team and caused by “serious explosive devices.”

The explosions happened as the team was departing its hotel for a match against Monaco. The game was called off shortly before kickoff and rescheduled for Wednesday.

A letter claiming responsibility was found near the site of the blasts, prosecutor Sandra Luecke said during a late evening news conference. She said investigators are examining the authenticity of what was written in the letter.

The case is being investigated as attempted homicide, Luecke said.

“We had to assume, and assumed right from the start, that this was a targeted attack against the team of Borussia Dortmund,” Dortmund Police Chief Gregor Lange. Investigators are not excluding any possible angles in their investigation, while the “concrete background” to the blasts remains unclear, he said.

There were three explosions near the bus as the team left the L’Arrivee Hotel and Spa on the outskirts of the western city of Dortmund for the stadium, around 10 km away, at 7.15 p.m. local time, police said.

A window on the bus was damaged and Spanish defender Marc Bartra was injured. Club spokesman Sascha Fligge said Bartra was operated on for a broken bone in his right wrist and to remove “foreign objects” from his arm.

Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki said the team bus had just pulled out of the hotel driveway when an explosion — a “huge bang” — happened and sent glass flying. Buerki, who is from Switzerland, told Swiss daily that he was sitting in the last row of the bus, next to Bartra.