The “concrete tip” indicated a group of up to seven Islamic State militants was planning a massacre involving suicide bombers targeting train stations in the Bavarian capital.

People were told to stay away from the main railway station and a second station in the city’s Pasing district.

Joachim Herrman, the interior minister for the state of Bavaria, has revealed that German authorities were notified of the threat by a “friendly intelligence service” and described it as a “concrete” tip.

The station closures capped a tense week in cities across Europe as warnings of planned terrorist atrocities soured the public mood and put a damper on the usually joyous and carefree New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Security forces in many capitals were on raised alert after a year of militant attacks, including an attack on Paris in November that killed 130 and was claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The newspaper reported that the plot involved plans for suicide bombers to detonate explosives at the stations, with others waiting to detonate secondary devices when emergency services arrived at the scene.

“It would also be wrong to say, that a concrete terror attack was prevented”. He added that Europe was facing “a general, permanent terror threat”.

In the early hours of the morning, Munich Police confirmed the stations have since been reopened.

Hubertus Andrae, chief of the Munich police, said Friday that no one had been arrested and that the authorities were unsure if the people whose names they had been given were even in the country.

“We still have significant police deployment at Munich central station and Pasing station but this has been significantly reduced compared to last night”, Herrmann told reporters.

Rights group Amnesty International said in November that at least 63 people had been executed since the start of the year for drug-related offenses.

Metropolitan Police spokeswoman Superintendent Jo Edwards said: “We’re mindful of what’s going on in other cities and across the world, we’re linked into the intelligence services, but there is no specific intelligence about the event in London tonight”.

The intelligence also included the names of the suspects, seven Iraqi citizens who are residing in Bavaria, the report has claimed.

Herrmann, the Bavarian minister, urged the public to resist “being driven insane by terrorists as we enter a new year in 2016”.

Belgian police said late on Thursday three people were being held for questioning as part of an investigation into an alleged plot.

In Belgium, authorities on Wednesday (December 30) called off the usual New Year’s Eve fireworks display in the capital, citing fears of a possible militant attack.