“We’re under attack by IS around the world and we’ve got to take this as a serious threat”, said Herrmann, who is responsible for the police in all of Bavaria.

Police in Germany said Friday a New Year’s Eve terror alert that closed two busy Munich train stations was prompted by the threat of suicide attacks linked to ISIS.

He said authorities are investigating intensively, 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 verifying the information.

“At the moment, we still have around 1,000 security additional officers on duty”, Hubertus Andrae, the Munich police chief, said at a press conference.

Herrmann continued to say that the closures had been “the right decision, because I think we can not run any risks when we have such specific threats”.

A suspected ISIS terror threat in Munich, Germany prompted officials to evacuate train stations, and a suspected terror plot in the USA ended in an arrest on New Year’s Eve.

The central Hauptbahnhof station and western Pasing station were shut down and special police units with automatic weapons were sent to guard the entrances. “Please avoid crowds and train stations”.

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

“The situation has eased a bit again”, said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann. “Thanks for staying calm and for your understanding concerning our measures”, the latest message in English said.

Police said they had received information that five to seven suicide bombers were planning to take part in the attack.

Days after the 13 November attacks in Paris, a football friendly between Germany and Holland in Hanover was cancelled 91 minutes before kick-off after police received “concrete information” of a planned attack in the stadium.

Turkish police on Wednesday detained two suspected Islamic State members they believe to have been plotting New Year’s Eve suicide attacks in the capital Ankara, where less than three months ago a double suicide bombing killed more than 100 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.

In New York City, where one million people were expected to gather in Times Square to watch the traditional ball drop ceremony, thousands of police officers were deployed, including hundreds who are part of a new anti-terror force.

“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.