Two suspected Islamist terrorists in the German state of Thuringia have been arrested for allegedly planning an attack with firearms near the Swedish parliament.

The spokeswoman for the German prosecutors’ office said on Tuesday.

The two Afghan nationals were detained near the city of Gera, 85 kilometres east of the state capital Erfurt.

The spokeswoman said the pair was alleged to have received instructions from an offshoot of the Islamic State terrorist group last year called the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), based in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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The attack was intended to be a reaction to the Koran burnings taking place in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries at the time, prosecutors alleged.

She added that police officers were among those set to be targeted.

The duo were alleged to have researched a possible attack on the internet and made several attempts to procure weapons, which were unsuccessful.

One of the suspects is alleged to have joined the ISKP as a member in August, while the other is accused of supporting the organisation.

Both had previously collected donations for Islamic State in Germany totalling around 2,000 euros (2,170 dollars) and sent the money to the terrorist group via intermediaries, investigators believe.

Both were to be brought before a investigating judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The arrest warrants, which were issued almost two years ago, are to be opened there.

The announcement of the arrests came from Germany’s federal prosecutors’ office in Karlsruhe, which acts on the government’s behalf.