German police have launched a massive manhunt last night for a Syrian man with links to the Islamic State who is suspected of planning an “imminent” bomb attack on an airport.

The hunt for the 22-year-old named as Jaber Al Bakr began after police found "several hundred grammes of highly explosive materials" in a flat believed to have been used by the suspect in the eastern city of Chemnitz.

Police also made three arrests in the town of persons who were "contacts or at least known to the suspect".

The explosives were found after hundreds of police officers sealed off a residential district in Chemnitz before bursting into the flat believed to have been used by the suspect.

They set off an explosion to blow open the door and gain access after warning residents of the neighbourhood to stay indoors.