German official revises assessment of ISIS terror threat
BERLIN -- Munich train stations reopened and trains were running Friday, as Bavaria's top security official said that the warning about extremists with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, intending to blow themselves up in the German city was no longer acute.
"We no longer have concrete indications for a terror threat today or tomorrow at a specific location," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters. He warned, however, that the overall terror threat in Europe remained high.
Just shortly before the city rang in the new year, Munich police had evacuated the main train station and a station in the Pasing neighborhood. Partygoers were asked to avoid crowds.
Herrmann said a friendly foreign intelligence service had warned Germany of an imminent attack at midnight by between five and seven ISIS militants from Syria and Iraq planning to blow themselves up at locations in Munich, including the two stations.
Authorities were investigating intensively on Friday, Herrmann said, but so far had not made any arrests. He said they had received personal data for some of the attackers and were still in the process of investigating and verifying the information. He would not give any further details on the alleged attackers and could not confirm if they actually existed.
Herrmann called on Munich residents to be cautious, but at the same time not to let terror threats interfere with their normal lives.
More than 500 police and special unit officers from all over the southern Bavaria region were called to Munich Thursday night to help evacuate and secure the stations. By Friday noon, some 100 extra officers were still present in the city.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere thanked all involved authorities for their "thoughtful, considerate and decisive" action in Munich on New Year's Eve.
"The situation in Europe and Germany continues to be serious in the new year," de Maiziere said in a written statement. "Indeed we did get indications (for a planned attack) yesterday, which were evaluated by the Bavarian intelligence authorities and federal police."
De Maiziere promised that in the future, German security officials would continue to analyze the situation thoroughly and act accordingly.
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.
As CBS News foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported, Europe has been on edge in the six weeks following the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
However, not even terrorist threats could keep Europeans from ringing in the new year -- though every capital city was saturated with security, especially Paris -- where terrorists struck twice this past year.
The French president himself appeared with some of the 11,000 soldiers on duty, a photo op designed to reassure both residents and visitors.
A few days after the Paris attack, a soccer stadium in Hannover in central Germany was evacuated after a threat against a friendly match between Germany and the Netherlands. The authorities never reported any findings of explosives or concrete attack plans.