German police raided 200 sites across 10 states on Tuesday as they searched for an Islamist group suspected of inciting hate.

The group called The True Religion (Die wahre Religion) has now also been banned by interior minister Thomas de Maiziere, said a ministry spokesman.

The sweeping raids in 10 states including North Rhine-Westphalia in the west, Hamburg in the north and Baden-Wuerttemberg in the south-west began at dawn.

The group is suspected of propagating hate, the spokesman said, adding that many people who have travelled to Syria had contact with it.