German police have arrested an Islamist who was plotting to kill police or soldiers with a homemade bomb.

The German man has admitted planning to lure police or soldiers into a trap and kill them with a home-made bomb, prosecutors and police said.

Prosecutors said chemicals that could be used to make explosive devices were found during a search of his home in the Lower Saxony town of Northeim in central Germany.

The 26-year-old is believed to be a member of a group of Salafists, ultra-conservative Islamists, they said.

German police have arrested an Islamist who was plotting to kill police or soldiers (file picture)

The man was arrested in the Lower Saxony town of Northeim in central Germany, pictured

'I wanted to slay them with it,' he allegedly told police after his arrest.

The suspect is being held on suspicion of preparing a serious crime against the state.

Chemicals needed to make a bomb were found in his flat, including acetone peroxide, and electronic components capable of detonating a device by remote control.

The suspect is being held in a police facility in the university city of Göttingen while police scramble to round up his contacts and associates.

Germany is on high alert following December's the Berlin Christmas Market attack, pictured

Göttingen's Chief of police Uwe Lührig stated that the fight against terrorism and radical Islamism had top priority.

In a statement, prosecutors and police called the arrest 'a big success in the fight against terrorism'.

German authorities are on high alert after a failed Tunisian asylum-seeker ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin on December 19, killing 12 people.

This month police carried out a series of raids on properties in the university town of Goettingen - not far from Northeim - and arrested two men suspected of planning an imminent Islamist attack.