German authorities have arrested five men suspected of links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
The men were arrested on November 8 after a series of raids in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the northern state of Lower Saxony.
The federal prosecutor's office said in a statement that the men were arrested on suspicion of supporting a terrorist organization.
Among those arrested was an Iraqi national identified as Ahmad Abdulaziz Abdullah A., who also goes by the alias of Abu Walaa.
The German prosecutor's office said Walaa, 32, was the ringleader of the group in Germany and he openly supported the IS group.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said it was critical to prevent people from becoming "so radicalized that they are in danger of becoming terrorists."
"We don't want terrorism to take place in Germany," he said. "We don't want terrorism to be exported from Germany."