A US man has been arrested on charges he was planning a New Year's Eve attack at a bar to prove to Islamic State (IS) he was worthy to join it in Syria.

Emanuel Lutchman, 25, of Rochester, New York, was charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists after being snared in an FBI sting, prosecutors said.

Lutchman is a self-professed convert to Islam who claimed to receive direction from an overseas IS member and planned to carry out an attack at a bar in the Rochester area, a federal complaint says.

The FBI said Lutchman had an accomplice who was actually working for the agency. They bought knives and a machete for the attack.

Lutchman was arrested on Wednesday.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.