According to a report in German paper Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, the impetus for canceling Tuesday’s Germany-Netherlands soccer match was a specific threat, discovered by French authorities, that a terrorist group had targeted the event with a coordinated attack involving five bombs.
HAZ’s article on the matter is behind a paywall, so the specifics here come aggregated by another German paper, Focus. The report claims that just a couple hours before kickoff, the French secret service alerted the German government of the alleged plot. As the intelligence agency understood it, a five-person group led by a German citizen planned on detonating three explosive devices inside the stadium itself, which they were to sneak into the facility either by hiding them on their persons or by obtaining an ambulance with clearance to enter the stadium. After those bombs went off, another was supposedly to be planted at a nearby bus station. Then, some time later, the final explosion would occur at the local train station.
Once German officials heard this, they went about investigating the scene and eventually decided to cancel the event as a precaution. While police inspected a number of suspicious devices, it’s not clear at this time if any explosives were actually discovered, as authorities have yet to release any findings of their investigation.
[Focus]
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