Three Syrian men with suspected links to Islamic State have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning an attack in the country, the federal public prosecutor said on Thursday.

It said in a statement that 27-year-old Hamza C, 25-year-old Mahood B and 31-year-old Abd Arahman AK had been arrested in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Brandenburg and Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Their homes were also searched.

The federal public prosecutor also said an arrest warrant had been issued for another Syrian man, 25-year-old Saleh A.

Two of the accused - Saleh A and Hamza C - had joined IS in Syria in the spring of 2014 and it is alleged they received the task from IS leaders to carry out an attack on the old town of Duesseldorf, a city in western Germany.

They later persuaded the other men to take part in the attack, the prosecutor said.

According to authorities Saleh A and Hamza C planned for two men to blow themselves up on the Heinrich-Heine-Allee, a busy road in the city centre, and then other attackers were expected to kill as many pedestrians and passers-by as possible with guns and explosive devices.

The prosecutor said there was no evidence the suspects had actually started concretely implementing the attack plans.

Reuters