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Munich police warn of ‘imminent threat’ of terror attack Munich terror threat: five to seven Isis suicide bombers planned New Year's Eve attack
(about 2 hours later)
Police in Munich are asking people to stay away from the city’s main railway station and a second station in the city’s Pasing neighbourhood because of the “serious, imminent threat” of a terror attack. Five to seven Islamic State suicide bombers were planning to launch an attack on New Year’s Eve, German authorities have said, as police in Munich evacuated train stations and warned people to stay away.
Munich police said on Facebook that according to “serious information, there will be an attack tonight”. Munich police president Hubertus Andrae said German authorities had been tipped off by a foreign intelligence service that the jihadi group was planning the attacks, the German news agency dpa reported. Andrae said so far there hadn’t been any arrests.
German police also used Twitter to warn of a planned New Year’s Eve attack. Earlier, police had warned of a “serious, imminent threat” and asked people to stay away from the city’s main train station and a second train station in the city’s Pasing neighbourhood.
“Actual lead that in Munich a terror attack is planned. Please avoid crowd gatherings as well as the central train station and the Pasing train station,” read a translation of the German tweet. It added: “Pasing and central stations have been evacuated. Trains are no longer running. Please follow police instructions.” Police spokesman Werner Kraus told the Associated Press that “after evaluating the situation, we started evacuating the train stations and also asked partygoers to stay away from big crowds outside”.
Another tweet from the police said: “We note explicitly once again that we take the threat very seriously. Please remain alert.” The warning came only hours before the city rang in the new year.
Zeit Online quoted a report from Bavarian Broadcasting radio that there were indications several terrorist groups in Munich were planning attacks. Despite police warnings to stay away from big crowds, thousands of people were on the streets of Munich at midnight to welcome the new year with fireworks.
The warning came shortly before the city celebrated the start of the new year. The new year celebrations subsequently passed off peacefully across Germany. Dpa reported massive delays in the city’s public transportation system after both train stations were quickly evacuated and trains were no longer stopped there.
Cities across Europe have been on edge since a terror attack in Paris in November killed 130 people.
A few days after the Paris attack, a soccer stadium in Hannover in central Germany was evacuated after a terror threat against a friendly match between Germany and the Netherlands. The authorities never reported any findings of explosives or concrete attack plans.