A teenage terror plot to firebomb a Christmas market in an Islamic State jihadi outrage has been foiled by police in Germany.

Two boys, aged 15 and 16, were seized after stockpiling fuel which they planned to set off in a truck, according to the authorities in Leverkusen, in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Officers are understood to have arrested the pair, who had links to the Islamic State (IS), after the pair reportedly agreed on a time and date for the bombing.

Christmas markets are a keystone of seasonal celebrations in Germany and draw thousands of people to shop and eat and drink at food stalls.

After the bombing, the pair planned to flee to Afghanistan and join IS, according to local media.

The firebomb plot, police believe, could have killed scores of visitors if it had not been rumbled.

State Interior Minister Herbert Reul told local media that the pair had first casually discussed blowing up a synagogue before deciding on a Christmas market.

Details of the plot first emerged on 29th November as police revealed the plan to murder “infidels”.

The Duesseldorf Public Prosecutor’s Office said the pair’s intention was “to kill visitors to a Christmas market in Leverkusen at the beginning of December using a fuel-generated explosion in a small truck.”

Local media reported that security services have been put on high alert for similar plots.

Prosecutors have accused the 15-year-old, who is reportedly a German-Afghan national, of conspiring to kill in a terrorist attack.

His 16-year-old accomplice, reportedly a Russian national with a Muslim Chechen background, will face similar charges, according to local media.

Local media reported that the older boy is said to be extremely violent and was armed with a knife when he was arrested.

Police are studying phones and computers seized in the arrests to find links to other terror cells.

The investigation is ongoing.