French intelligence says three bombs were to be detonated at Hanover soccer match

Islamist terrorists planned to detonate three bombs at Tuesday's Germany-Netherlands friendly soccer match in Hanover, according to a report based on French intelligence. That warning, passed on to the German government, prompted the last-minute cancellation of the match – the correct thing to do, German chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday evening.

“I know it is difficult to take such a decision among the most difficult decisions of all, which touch on the elementary tension between freedom and security,” she said. “On Tuesday the correct decision was taken, in case of doubt in favour of security.”

According to the Hannoversche Allgemeine daily, the Tuesday's bomb plot was planned by a five-member team headed by a German national. They planned to detonate one explosive charge each. Three were set to go off during the match, smuggled into the stadium by ticket holders or via an official vehicle.

A fourth device was to be detonated at a nearby bus stop. Seven hours later, according to the report, the only woman in the group would detonate a device at an unnamed train station, presumed to be the busy main train station in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony.

Unlike the stadium attacks, the report said the train station bombing was not intended to be a suicide attack. Instead, the woman was supposed to deposit the bomb in the station and leave again.

Information about the planned attacks reportedly reached German authorities from their French counterparts two hours before kick-off and 15 minutes after the stadium had opened its doors. Thirty minutes later, at 7.20pm local time, the game was cancelled and fans in the stadium were ordered to leave.

Local police chief Volker Kluwe said there was a “concrete danger for all of Hanover” and that there were concerns that the threat was already inside the stadium. A search of the stadium, includinile photo og catering facilities and outside broadcast trucks, revealed no explosives.

German authorities concede they still do not know if the plan was real or just a scare story to disrupt a match to be attended by Dr Merkel and half her cabinet as a show of solidarity with France.