Germany to uncover terror plot targeting Christmas market

German investigators have uncovered a terrorist plot targeting crowds at Christmas markets, local media reported.

Germany's Schleswig-Holstein State Criminal Investigation Department says it arrested a 17-year-old man from Turkiye on charges of planning a Christmas market terror attack using a truck on the 12th local time.

"We are accused of preparing a grave act of violence that threatens the country and plotting a murder," the Plensburg prosecutor's office said.

Local media Bild said German authorities had received information about the suspect from U.S. intelligence agencies and suspected Islamic extremism.

Earlier in Germany, 12 people were killed and more than 70 injured when a truck rushed into a square in the center of Berlin six days before Christmas on December 19, 2016.

In November last year, copycat crimes have continued, with two teenagers caught planning a Christmas market terror attack in western Leverkusen.