German police detain 3 teenagers suspected of Islamist terror attack plot

German police have detained three teenagers on suspicions they were planning an Islamist-motivated terror attack, according to local prosecutors.

The trio, two girls and a boy aged from 15 to 16, are “strongly suspected of planning a terror attack and of having committed to carrying it out,” German prosecutors say in a statement.

All three are from the Duesseldorf region, and had also “committed to carrying out a crime — murder and manslaughter,” the prosecutors add.

Investigators do not provide further details on the alleged plot, saying the inquiry is still underway.

But the Bild newspaper reports that the youths were allegedly planning to carry out Molotov cocktail and knife attacks in the name of the Islamic State group.

Their targets are believed to be Christians and police, according to the report, which says the suspects were also weighing whether to obtain firearms.

Germany has been on high alert for Islamist attacks since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October, with the country’s domestic intelligence chief warning that the risk of such assaults is “real and higher than it has been for a long time.”