Manhunt launched for 7 ‘Iraqi’ ISIS-linked suspects after tip about planned NYE attacks in Munich

"Seven Iraqis" With ISIS Ties Planned Coordinated Suicide Attacks In Germany Last Night

Zero Hedge,

1 January, 2016

On Thursday evening, Munich police evacuated the Hauptbahnhof station and Pasing station at the western end of the city center, and warned citizens of an imminent terrorist attack.

 

Polizei MünchenVerified account‏@PolizeiMuenchen

Aktuelle Hinweise, dass in #München ein Terroranschlag geplant ist. Bitte meidet Menschenansammlungen und die Bahnhöfe Hauptbahnhof + Pasing

• RETWEETS4,172
• LIKES1,486
• 

10:40 AM - 1 Jan 2016

Translation: “Current indications that a terrorist attack is planned in Munich. Please avoid crowds and the train stations Hauptbahnhof station and Pasing.”

This was the scene as nearly 600 security personnel including police and special forces were dispatched.

The tip - which apparently came from "foreign intelligence services" - was described as "concrete."

"The threat very specifically referred to midnight and to these two places," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told journalists.

The alleged plot was simple enough: “...seven Iraqis living in Munich were named as the potential attackers, and they were planning to enter the stations in pairs and blow themselves up simultaneously,” The Guardian says, citing Bavarian state broadcaster BR which also said the tip came from American and French intelligence services. 

BR suggests the attack was set to mirror the Paris attacks with at least some of the suspects wielding Kalashnikovs. Here's more (translated):

"The information came after information from the Bayerischen Rundfunk from sources of American intelligence services: The speech was about five to seven Iraqis who would in Munich with Kalashnikov submachine guns carry out an attack in similar to the assassinations of Paris.Specifically, two stations have been cited as possible targets there.Providing the information were also live with concrete names of suspects and the information, a part of the possible assassins would in an apartment-hotel at the Landsberger Straße."

"The inhabitants of this house were checked," BR continues, adding that it "was a large-scale, day-long observation." No suspects were identified. When the warning came again on New Year's Eve, authorities decided to notify the public and close the train stations. 

A spokeswoman for the Munich police wouldn’t confirm the nationalities of the would-be attackers or whether authorities had started a manhunt. She was willing, however, to blame ISIS: “Investigations are happening, but I cannot give out any details, that is a tactical information,” she told the Guardian. “I can’t confirm whether they are Iraqis, but it was apparently a group of five to seven people affiliated to ISIS.”

Here’s what she said when the stations were reopened around 4 a.m.: “The closures at the main station and the Pasing station have been lifted, but there selective controls are being carried out there. The situation after midnight is more relaxed than it was before midnight, but notwithstanding that we cannot give the all clear. We had a terrorist warning from the French secret service and we are still taking it seriously, because we can’t rule out that it is not serious – and as long as there is still the danger of a grain of truth to it, we will continue our measures.”

These "measures" now apparently include a search for the suspects although, again, it looks as though the police are stopping short of confirming a man hunt like that which took place for Salah Abdeslam in the wake of the Paris massacre. “We received names. We can’t say if they are in Munich or in fact in Germany,” Munich police president Hubertus Andra said.

All of this comes after authorities in Brussels canceled all official events for New Year's Eve after three people were arrested in connection with an alleged terrorist plot. 

This is the second time in two months that Germany has taken precautionary measures in connection with a suspected attack. You might recall that back in November, two stadiums in Hannover were evacuated and train stations searched after authorities received a tip similar to that which prompted Thursday evening's lockdown.

And so, in case Germans needed another reason to be wary of the continued influx of asylum seekers from the Mid-East, they can add "Iraqi ISIS New Year's suicide plot" to the list. The number of migrants registered in the country in 2015 came in at around 1.09 million, up fivefold from 2014. As WSJ noted back in October, "Bavaria is Germany’s main entry point for migrants," and the state's politicians have at various times sparred with Merkel over the crisis. In November, Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Soeder told Welt am Sonntag that "Paris changes everything. The days of uncontrolled immigration and illegal entry can't continue."

The only question now is whether the names given to German intelligence will indeed be confirmed as registered migrants. If they are, you can expect a public outcry.

From the comments:

Nobody arrested and they aren't even sure whether these 7 Iraqi's really exist:http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/muenchen-silvester-105.html

"Die Ermittlungen hätten allerdings bislang "keinerlei Erkenntnisse" zu den Personen gebracht: "Ob es die Personen tatsächlich gibt, wissen wir nicht." Die Namen habe man weder in München noch sonst irgendwo lokalisieren können. Die Abklärungen liefen noch."

Quick translation: The investigation so far has not brought up any information regarding these persons."Whether these persons actually exist we don't know." They have not been able to locate those names in Munich or elsewhere. The investigation continues.