German stadium evacuated over bomb fears
German officials on Tuesday evacuated a sports stadium in Hanover after receiving intelligence about a terrorist threat, according to multiple reports.
Police called off a soccer match between Germany and the Netherlands in light of a potential bomb plot, according to CNN.
{mosads}“We had concrete evidence that someone wanted to set off an explosive device inside the stadium,” said Lower Saxony Police Chief Volker Kluwe.
Germany’s interior minister later said that no explosives were found at the stadium.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and at least three other top German officials had planned to attend the game.
The security scare comes amid heightened anxiety over terrorism across Europe. Extremists attacked Paris last week during a coordinated string of attacks across the French capital.
About 130 people died during the Nov. 14 attacks, with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since claiming responsibility.
Reports emerged last Friday that at least one attacker tried gaining entry into Paris’s 80,000-person stadium.
The extremist was allegedly wearing an explosive vest when he was turned away from the Stade de France.
The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 14 that a security guard who was on duty discovered the terrorist’s device. The attacker then detonated his vest, it said, three minutes before a second radical did the same.
The twin suicide attacks killed one civilian at the Stade de France. The other casualties took place at the Bataclan concert hall and multiple Parisian restaurants and bars.
French President François Hollande was safely evacuated from a VIP section during the game between his nation and Germany.
The match-up continued for the regulation 90 minutes, reports said, given outside intelligence about the attacks was not broadcast for fear of sparking mass hysteria.
– This story was updated at 3:53 p.m.
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