Bombs found near Berlin march site

BERLIN — Berlin police announced Tuesday that they had found three improvised pipe bombs near a huge May 1 protest march.

The aluminum pipe devices were filled with an explosive but were not detonated, police spokesman Stefan Redlich said. If any had exploded, they could have caused serious or deadly injuries up to 50 feet away, he added.

Experts are still investigating the explosive substance and do not yet know whether it could have burst the pipes into pieces, creating a shrapnel bomb, Redlich added.

The bombs were found on sidewalks in Berlin’s western Kreuzberg neighborhood as 10,000 leftists rallied on May Day, but police officers thought they were just large fireworks and picked them up to check them later.

The substance in the pipes was made of chlorate and sugar, but experts have not determined how powerful the explosive mixture was, Redlich said.

Police had no immediate information on who might have left the bombs or what their motive may have been.