Frankfurt, Dec 31: Hamburg authorities today defended their decision to seal off a German military hospital in this northern city saying they received a concrete tip from US. Officials that Islamic extremists planned to attack the facility.
More than 100 officers wearing bulletproof vests and dozens of armored police vehicles were sent in to block off streets surrounding the hospital and search cars parked nearby yesterday after Hamburg security officials said a U.S. Intelligence agency tipped them off to the planned attacks. The action testified to European jitters amid warnings of possible terror attacks around the holidays. In Italy, the government closed access to airspace over Rome to private planes until Jan. 6.
Hamburg police said today they had turned up nothing suspicious and no one had been arrested, but the facility in the suburb of Wandsbek would remain under tight security until further notice. Germany's top security official criticised Hamburg authorities for acting too swiftly, saying the tips were "unsubstantiated.'' "It is unfortunate that the indications were made public too swiftly, making it more difficult to follow up on them,'' Interior Minister Otto Schily said in a statement yesterday. Bureau Report