A drone with an explosive device attached has been defused at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle airport, as Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned that the incident posed “a new quality of danger”.

The airport’s north runway was closed for about two hours and several flights were diverted after an employee spotted a flying object near the runway overnight on Tuesday. Police deployed an explosives disposal robot to examine the object before removing the device’s detonator.

That the drone was carrying explosives “is a new quality of danger”, Dobrindt told reporters at the airport on Wednesday.

“Drone sightings and drone threats, including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past,” he said.

“That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario.”

Dobrindt said authorities were investigating who was responsible, as well as the nature of the explosives and the origin of the drone.

The airport’s north runway reopened later on Wednesday, while the south runway remained out of use due to scheduled maintenance. Authorities said there was no danger to travellers or airport employees and that flights were operating normally.

Meanwhile, an apparent second flying object collided with a freight aircraft after it aborted its landing because the runway was closed.

The aircraft diverted to Hannover airport, where officials discovered minor damage during an inspection. Saxony’s regional interior minister, Armin Schuster, said a search was under way for parts of the flying object, which could have been another drone. Authorities have not said whether the second object was connected to the drone found near the runway.

The investigation is being led by prosecutors in the eastern state of Saxony, who are responsible for politically motivated and extremist crimes, although authorities have not identified any suspects or attributed responsibility.

Photos from the scene showed police technicians working with an explosives disposal robot near a Ukrainian Antonov cargo aircraft parked at the airport. Authorities have not indicated that the aircraft was the intended target.