German authorities have arrested three suspected Islamist extremists accused of planning a "serious act of violence," seizing an assault rifle, knives, and other items during the operation, officials announced on Tuesday, according to the AFP news agency.
Police carried out the raids on Sunday, targeting the homes of two German-Lebanese brothers, aged 15 and 20, in Mannheim, and a 22-year-old German-Turkish man in the Hochtaunus district of Hessen state, the report said.
German media reported that the suspects were allegedly planning to attack Christmas markets in Frankfurt or Mannheim.
In a joint statement, local prosecutors and police said the planned act could have "endangered the state," but they did not provide further details.
Authorities revealed that the brothers in Mannheim held a "strong religious ideology and profound sympathy" for the Islamic State (ISIS) group and had made concrete plans for an attack.
Germany has been on high alert for possible Islamist attacks for several years and especially since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7 of last year.
The country's domestic intelligence chief warned that the risk of such assaults is "real and higher than it has been for a long time".
In late October of 2023, police in the western German city of Essen arrested a man who plotted to attack a pro-Israel demonstration.
In December of that year, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in western Germany on suspicion of planning a possible attack on a Christmas market.
Weeks later German police arrested three people over an alleged attack plot targeting the cathedral in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
In late May, German authorities arrested two men suspected of plotting a knife attack on worshippers at a synagogue in the southwestern city of Heidelberg.
Two weeks ago, German federal prosecutors announced charges against four alleged members of Hamas, accusing them of acquiring and storing weapons for the group in Europe.
Days later, German authorities arrested a teenager suspected of planning an Islamist-inspired pipe bomb attack.
The country has experienced a series of allegedly Islamist-motivated knife attacks in recent months. In August, three people were killed and eight injured in a stabbing spree during a street festival in Solingen.
In June, a police officer was fatally stabbed in Mannheim, with an Afghan national being held as the primary suspect.