Germany lifts alert after bomb threat to Munich

Bavarian state interior minister Joachim Herrmann, right, and Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae, left hold a press conference in Munich. Sven Hoppe / EPA

MUNICH // German police on Friday lifted an alert of an imminent attack in Munich, hours after evacuating two key railway stations amid fears extremists were planning a New Year suicide bomb attack.

Officials said they were tipped off about an ISIL plot to strike at the southern German city shortly before midnight as Europe prepared to ring in the New Year in an atmosphere of unprecedented security.

European capitals have been on high alert since November when ISIL militants murdered 130 people in a series of gun and suicide attacks in Paris, stoking fears they could stage further attacks over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

About 500 people were evacuated from two railway stations in Moscow on Friday after police were tipped off about bombs being planted, RIA news agency cited an emergency services source as saying.

RIA reported that Paveletsky and Kursky stations were evacuated and said later that no bomb was found at Kursky after sniffer dogs searched the station. It did not say what had happened at Paveletsky station.

German investigators, acting on information from a foreign intelligence service, said they have so far failed to substantiate the Munich threat.

“Overall, I would say that the situation for Munich is as it was before this threat of attack,” Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said on Friday.

Investigators had in hand the names of some of the “five to seven” suspects allegedly planning to blow themselves up at locations including Munich’s main rail hub and Pasing station in the western part of the city, he said, but have not yet found any evidence.

“We have examined data relating to these names, but at the moment we do not know if these names are correct, whether these people exist and where they are,” he said, adding that the suspects were allegedly from Iraq and Syria.

A large deployment of 550 officers overnight has now been reduced to 100, and Mr Andrae urged the public to “live as you did before”.

Nevertheless, the police chief refuted speculation that the threat was a false alarm, saying that “if there is such information, we have to act”.

Interior minister Thomas de Maiziere thanked Bavarian authorities for their action, warning in a statement that the security situation in Europe and Germany “remains serious in the new year”.

“Security agencies continue to expect a high threat stemming from international terrorism,” he said.

Just over an hour before the New Year, police ordered the evacuation of the two stations over a possible “terror attack”, issuing alerts via Twitter in several languages.

Rail services at both stations were immediately suspended and police urged the public to avoid large gatherings. Both stations later reopened at around 3:30am, but police called for vigilance.

Regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk said the suspects were seven Iraqis living in Munich who were allegedly planning to work in pairs and blow themselves up at the two stations as well in other parts of the city.

Germany had been tipped off by both US and French authorities, it said.

The alert brought an eerie silence to Munich’s busy rail hub, which over the summer made headlines for the massive turnout of volunteers welcoming record numbers of refugees to Germany.

Police, including some in riot gear, were stationed overnight at the entrances to the station. Revellers seeking to access the site were turned away.

Meanwhile across Europe, public celebrations went ahead as planned but under the watchful eye of thousands of police and security forces.

With fears of a fresh attack high, both France and Belgium scrapped the traditional New Year fireworks displays in their respective capitals, with Brussels saying it had information about an alleged plot to attack “emblematic sites” over the holiday.

Ahead of the celebrations, Belgian police carried out several raids in Brussels and the eastern city of Liege in connection with the alleged plot, with five people still in custody on Friday. All five deny the allegations.

Several days after the November 13 Paris attacks, German police called off an international football match at the last minute, evacuating thousands of fans from the stadium over a “serious” bomb threat.

Although an investigation was opened, no explosives were found nor arrests made.

Mr De Maiziere — who had been due to attend the match with Chancellor Angela Merkel — later said the event was cancelled “to protect the population”, but did not provide specifics.

* Agence France-Presse, Reuters