"They are believed to have agreed to carry out an Islamist terrorist attack using a vehicle and guns that would kill as many 'non-believers' as possible," prosecutors said.
ADVERTISEMENTTen people were arrested in Germany over suspicions they were planning a terrorist attack, report German news agency DPA.
They were planning to use a vehicle and guns to carry out the attack with the goal of "killing as many people as possible," said prosecutors, according to Reuters.
An 11th person was also arrested but "in another context because the investigation is only directed towards ten defendants between 20 and 42 years old," a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office told DPA.
Several of the suspects are German citizens, said the spokeswoman
The main suspects are a 21-year-old man from Offenbach, a city near Frankfurt and two 31-year-old brothers from Wiesbaden, also outside of Frankfurt. All of them are believed to be members of the local Islamist Salafist community, prosecutors said.
"They are believed to have agreed to carry out an Islamist terrorist attack using a vehicle and guns that would kill as many 'non-believers' as possible," the statement from Frankfurt prosecutors said.
"To prepare the attack, they had already made contact with different arms dealers, rented a large vehicle and collected financial assets to use for the purchase of guns and the execution of the planned murders," they added.
Police seized €20,000 in cash, several knives, drugs, and several documents and computer files during raids carried out by law enforcement experts.
There hasn't been any statement from the lawyers representing the detained men.
Authorities say they have foiled several attacks since the Berlin Christmas Market one two and a half years ago.