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A deadly arsenal of weapons dug up at a tourist hotspot popular with Brits has been linked to a planned terror attack.

Two sub-machine guns, four handguns, several combat knives and an ISIS flag were discovered buried in Ceutan, a Spanish territory near Tangiers and just across the water from Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard, who made the chilling find, said they had received a tip-off about the buried weapons from another criminal organisation.

A statement released today by Spain's Interior Ministry says the guns and knives were connected to an operation in which four people were arrested in January.

It was also confirmed that a USB storage device was found which had been wiped clean but experts have managed to retrieve some of the data.

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(Image: Ministry of Interior)

This included chilling information about possible terrorist targets, understood to be at least six outdoor spaces in Ceuta where large crowds gather.

British tourists travel to the region to enjoy the fine weather, watersports and astonishing scenery.

The statement said the list only gave the locations and had not progressed to the stage of any detailed planning about an attack.

The ministry says the six men held in the two operations in Ceuta this year had profiles similar to those involved in the Paris terror attacks.

(Image: PA)

Spain has made more than 20 arrests of suspected Islamist militants since September.

The find is being hailed as a major breakthrough in the fight against Jihadist terrorism in Spain because it is the first such find connected to an organised cell.

The weapons are now being examined, as is the USB.

Police are particularly concerned because this area of Spain has "numerous civilian and military targets of high strategic interest in the immediate environment."

Spain is still on Level 4 alert.