Guns, weapons and drugs have been seized from a network of right-wing extremists operating paramilitary training camps in German forests amid fears of a potential attack.

Investigators in the state of Thuringia said at least 13 known suspects were part of the group, including some from an “internationally active right-wing movement”.

The state office of criminal investigation said short and long-range guns, ammunition and other weaponry was uncovered alongside a small amount of drugs.

Police also seized right-wing propaganda, mobile phones and computers in dawn raids at 14 properties in Thuringia, Erfurt and Göttingen, in Lower Saxony.

A spokesperson said the operation targeted a “criminal organisation” accused of setting up paramilitary training camps in the region’s forests, adding: “Some of the suspects are believed to be members of an internationally-active right-wing extremist movement, which aims to abolish the social and governmental order of Germany and other European states.”

The raids were coordinated by Germany’s GSG 9 counter-terror force, supported by police from six states. Authorities did not confirm whether the group was plotting an attack.

Numerous weapons and items with banned Nazi symbols were found in the raids on another far-right group in Germany in 2015 (EPA)

During the searches, a man who was not originally under investigation was arrested for attacking and injuring two officers.

Another suspect was arrested for using symbols of “unconstitutional organisations” – a phrase frequently used by Germany authorities to refer to Nazi-era memorabilia and symbols including the swastika.

Officials said the suspect found with “numerous” guns was believed to be a member of the so-called Reichsbürger movement, which claims the current German state is illegitimate and is alleged to have neo-Nazi links.

Police are now investigating whether to withdraw his firearms licence.

A Reichsbürger shot a police officer dead during a raid in Bavaria in October, shocking Germany and prompting a government crackdown on resurgent far-right groups.

A police officer at a house in Georgensgmünd, Germany, where a far-right extremist opened fire on police during a raid on 19 October (DPA/Getty)

Politicians from Germany’s Die Linke party claimed the network uncovered on Friday was linked to the far-right Europäische Aktion (European Action) group, which was founded by a Swiss Holocaust denier in 2008.

Europäische Aktion’s stated aims include creating a European “confederation” that would abolish the Euro and the EU, force the return of anyone judged to be non-Europeans to their countries of origin, and abolish Germany and Austria in favour of a “Reich” with pre-Second World War borders.

Its Facebook page, which remains online, propagates neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and white supremacist ideology claiming the existence of a “long-planned campaign to exterminate the indigenous peoples of Europe” with an “invasion” from Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Europäische Aktion’s members are based in Germany, Switzerland and Austria but active in a far wider set of countries including the UK, France, Hungary, Spain and Sweden.

Die Welt reported that the organisation was intending to dissolve and re-form under a different name to evade investigations by authorities.

Germany has been shaken by a series of Isis-related terror attacks, as well as the Reichsbürger murder and foiled plots from both Islamists and the far-right.

Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Show all 13 1 /13 Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Women protest against sexism outside Cologne Cathedral on 5 January after the assaults Oliver Berg/EPA Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Women protest against sexism in Cologne following the rash of sex attacks on New Year's Eve Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police initially failed to mention the assaults in report the following morning EPA Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police officers patrol in front of the main station of Cologne, Germany AP Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks German far-right supporters demonstrate at Cologne`s train station (Reuters) Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement Pegida in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016. Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police used pepper spray to control supporters of Pegida, Hogesa (Hooligans against Salafists) and other right-wing populist groups as they protested against the New Year's Eve sex attacks on 9 January, 2016 in Cologne, Germany Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police use a water cannon during a protest march by supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement Pegida in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016 Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Police use pepper spray against supporters of anti-immigration right-wing movement Pegida, in Cologne, Germany, January 9, 2016. Reuters Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Artist Mira Moiré protests naked in Cologne against the mass sex attacks on New Year's Eve AP Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks A demonstrator holds a sign in German that reads 'No violence against women' during a demonstration in the wake of the sexual assaults on New Year's Eve, outside the cathedeal in Cologne, Germany, 09 January 2016. EPA Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Counter demonstrators hold up a sign reading "Against sexism, against racism" as they protest against a demonstration of the islamophobic movement PEGIDA at the train station in Cologne, Germany, on January 9, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Germany reacts to Cologne New Year's Eve attacks Demonstration by a women’s group on Saturday (AP) AP

Earlier this year, a Bundeswehr soldier was found posing as a Syrian refugee to plot a false flag shooting attack that prosecutors said aimed to turn Germany against migrants.

A group of extremists from the far-right Oldschool Society group have been put on trial for plotting to attack accommodation for asylum seekers, while a homemade bomb emblazoned with a swastika and symbol of the Nazi SS was discovered earlier this year.

Thousands of attacks on refugee centres have been documented as part of a rise in political violence by both the right and left wing, amid heightened tensions over the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers in Germany and sex attacks in Cologne.

On Thursday, the Bundestag voted to cut off state funding for the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), which narrowly escaped being banned earlier this year.

The party, viewed by Germany's intelligence agency as racist, anti-Semitic and revisionist, has never won a seat in the federal parliament and has lost all its seats in regional assemblies.