Munich train stations evacuated over concerns of possible IS terror plans

German police are searching for five to seven persons from the Islamic State militant group after a terror alert on the New Year’s Eve, Munich police announced on Friday. A riot police man armed with a machine gun controls the street in front of Pasing railway station on January 1, 2016 in Munich, Germany.

He said the temporary closure had been necessary because the intelligence service had got a “specific” warning.

Police informed of “two concrete tips” of planned suicide attacks with “Islamist background”, with the threat linked to Islamic State (IS).

“The tips included specified times and locations of the assailants from IS and we quickly came to the conclusion that we couldn’t just ignore the warnings from the intelligence agencies”, Herrmann told Bavaria’s BR public television network.

Police reinforcements were deployed to Munich from other parts of Bavaria.

“Overall I would say that the situation for Munich is as it was before this threat of attack”, the southern city’s police chief Hubertus Andrae told journalists.

Following last night’s terror warning for Munich, PEGIDA chairman Lutz Bachmann took to Twitter telling those who had welcomed refugees with applause at Munich’s main station to immediately convene there, leading to widespread outrage and indignation across social media.

He urged residents of the southern German city to “carry on living as you did previously”.

The Munich-daily Sueddeutscher Zeitung as well as broadcasters WDR and NDR said the first tip-off came as early as December 23, but contained few details.

A police spokeswoman said a search for possible suspects had been launched and a tweet from German police said “we take the threat very seriously”.

Police called off a football match in Hannover that had been billed as a show of defiance in the wake of the Paris attacks and evacuated the stadium 90 minutes before kick-off in November.

“The federal and Bavarian police agreed this couldn’t simply be ignored”, Mr Herrmann said.

Belgian authorities announced the release Friday of three more people in connection with a suspected plot to carry out attacks in Brussels on New Year’s Eve, according to The Associated Press.

In Brussels, authorities canceled the city’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display as a precaution amid fears of a militant attack.

While many people turned out for public New Year celebrations, the year of militant attacks produced more of a mood of worry and uncertainty for others.

The Austrian capital Vienna has also raised its terror level in recent days after receiving intelligence pointing at an imminent risk while police in Germany’s capital Berlin did not allow revelers to approach the Brandenburg Gate with bag packs or large bags. On Friday, 100 additional officers were still on duty, Andrae said.