German police arrest Syrian suspected of preparing terror attack

German police have arrested a Syrian man suspected of preparing a terror attack using powerful explosives, prosecutors say, 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, the federal prosecutors office say in a statement.

Several apartments were also searched in the region, which is north of Berlin.

The man is suspected of having “planned and already concretely prepared an Islamist-motivated attack in Germany using very powerful explosives,” the statement says. “It has not yet been established whether the suspect already had a target in mind or not,” it said, adding that prosecutors did not have any information whether the suspect belonged to “a terrorist organization.”

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

The attacker was shot dead by police in Milan four days later, and the rampage was claimed by the Islamic State group.

— AFP