German authorities said on Saturday they had arrested five men on suspicion of involvement in an Islamist plot to plough a vehicle into people at a Christmas market.
Officials have been on high alert during the festive season after a deadly car-ramming attack at a market in the city of Magdeburg last Christmas shocked the nation.
Police and prosecutors said they had detained an Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian on Friday over the plan to carry out the attack in southern Bavaria state.
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Investigators suspect “an Islamist motive” for the plot, according to the statement.
The Egyptian, aged 56, was an imam at a mosque in the Dingolfing-Landau district, German newspaper Bild reported.
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According to authorities, he had called for an attack to be carried out on a Christmas market in the area “using a vehicle in order to kill or injure as many people as possible”.