A Syrian man arrested in Berlin is suspected of belonging to Islamic State and having received IS instructions from Syria to carry out an attack in Germany, the Federal Prosecutor's Office said on Thursday.

Police said on Wednesday that the man, identified by the prosecutor's office only as 27-year-old Ashraf Al-T, had been living in Germany since last year. He was arrested in an apartment in Berlin's Schoeneberg district.

German security services are on high alert after two Islamist militant attacks this summer. In October, a Syrian refugee was arrested on suspicion of planning a major attack in Berlin after police discovered explosives in his flat.