German authorities said they arrested five men suspected of planning a vehicle attack on a Christmas market in the Dingolfing-Landau area of Bavaria. The suspects — a 56-year-old Egyptian, three Moroccans aged 30, 28 and 22, and a 37-year-old Syrian — were detained on Dec. 12, with four placed in custody after magistrate hearings and one held in preventive detention. Prosecutors said the Egyptian, described in media reports as an imam, had urged followers at a mosque to use a vehicle to kill or injure people at a market; investigators said they currently assume an Islamist motive but have found no proven link to the Islamic State. Arrests were carried out by special operations forces near the Suben border crossing with Austria. Authorities said planning was at an early stage and stressed the threat had been stopped before it became imminent; technical searches, including mobile phone analysis, are under way. Bavaria’s interior minister credited rapid cooperation among security agencies. The announcement comes amid heightened security after past Christmas market attacks in Germany, notably Berlin in 2016 and Magdeburg in 2024.