Terror attack plan foiled in Germany

German police yesterday arrested a Syrian man suspected of preparing a terror attack using powerful explosives, prosecutors said, almost one year after a deadly jihadist truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas Market.

The man, identified only as Yamen A., 19, was held at dawn by special forces in the northeastern town of Schwerin, close to Berlin.

The man is suspected of having "planned and already concretely prepared an Islamist-motivated attack in Germany using very powerful explosives," the statement said. .

"A serious attack has been prevented," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a statement.

"This action came at exactly the right moment: late enough that the necessary evidence had been gathered but early enough to eliminate any potential danger".

German police have been on high alert to the threat of Islamist attacks, particularly since December last year when a man ploughed into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people.