German police hunting for a Syrian-born man suspected of planning a bomb attack on Saturday found explosives in an apartment they raided while looking for him, officials said, according to Reuters.
Police appealed to the public to call them with any information on the suspect, 22-year-old Jaber Albakr, who was last seen in the eastern city of Chemnitz wearing a black hooded top with a bright pattern on the front, the news agency said.
"The search for the suspect is ongoing," Saxony state police tweeted. "At the moment, however, we do not know where he is and what he is carrying with him. Be careful."
Police detained three people in Chemnitz who they said were known to Albakr, but he remained at large.
"Questioning (of the detainees) is continuing. The results are still to come," said Tom Bernhardt, spokesman for the Saxony state criminal investigation office, according to Reuters.
Bernhardt added that police did not immediately find the several hundred grams of explosives when searching the apartment as they were well hidden.
Hundreds of police including specialist commandos combed a residential area in Chemnitz looking for Albakr.
Police asked local residents to remain indoors and began evacuating more people after discovering the explosives. Bernhardt said it was unclear how many suspects might be involved.
Germany has been on alert since a series of attacks this past summer, including two in the southern state of Bavaria that were both claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS).
In the first attack, a 17-year-old Afghani with an ax attacked passengers on a train in Wurzburg before being shot dead by security forces.
In the second incident, an attacker set off a bomb in a restaurant in Ansbach, killing himself and wounding 12 others.
In August, German authorities arrested a man on suspicion of storing materials that could be used as explosives. The suspect also had items in his apartment glorifying ISIS.