Two Islamist attacks have been thwarted in Germany. One of them targeted the city of Magdeburg, victim of a similar attack last year

The German police arrested a 21-year-old man from Magdeburg (center), who they suspect was planning a potential attack “motivated by Islam”, the regional authorities told AFP on Monday, confirming information from the German press, Agerpres reports.

The Ministry of the Interior of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, whose seat is Magdeburg, is preparing an expulsion order for the suspect, who was placed in preventive detention on Friday, he also told AFP.

This measure is possible “against a foreign national based on a factual assessment, to prevent a special danger” to public safety “or a terrorist threat” in Germany, the source indicated.

Also on Friday, five men were arrested – an Egyptian, three Moroccans and a Syrian – suspected of preparing an Islamist-inspired ram attack targeting a Christmas market in Bavaria, in the south of the country.

The Egyptian, aged 56, is an imam at a mosque near the town of Dingolfing-Landau, close to Munich, according to the tabloid Bild.

The arrest of the 21-year-old in Magdeburg takes place almost exactly one year after the deadly attack at the Christmas market in the same city.

Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, an Islamophobic Saudi who admitted to driving the vehicle that plowed into the crowd, is currently on trial for the car attack that left six dead and more than 300 injured.

His act has brought security issues back to the fore, inflaming the debate over immigration and security at a time when Germany is in the midst of a parliamentary election campaign and in the wake of several knife attacks, some of which were carried out by foreigners.

In the February parliamentary elections, the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) obtained a historic second place.

Uncertain until the last moment due to increased security requirements, Magdeburg's Christmas market finally reopened at the end of November.